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Class 



Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSn 



LECTURES ON PEDAGOGY 

THEOEETICAL AND PEACTICAL. 



GABRIEL COMPAYRE, 
(» 

Author of "Histoire de la Peua*gogie," Professor in the Normal 

Schools of Fontenay-aux-Roses and Saint Clold, amj 

Member of the Chamber of Deputies. 



TRANSLATED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, NOTES, 
AND AN APPENDIX, 



''V Hr 



WV Hr PAYNE, A.M., 

Chancellor of the University of Nashville and President of the 

Peabody Normal College ; Author of " Chapters on School 

Supervision," " Outlines of Educational Doctrine," and 

" Contrtbutions to the Science of Education" 

Editor of "Page's Theory and Practice 

OF Teaching " ; and Translator of 

COMPAYRE's " Histoire de 

LA Pedagogie." 



39^5 



BOSTON : 
D. C. HEATH & CO., PUBLISHERS. 

1887- 



LB (-IS 



Copyright, 1887, 
By W. H. PAYNE. 



RESS OF HENRY H. CLARK * CO., BOSTON. 



I 






K 



TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. 



In recent years the literature of education has been enriched by 
no contributions superior to Coinpayre's "Histoire de la Pedagogic" 
and " Cours de Pedagogic, Theorique et Pratique." The qualities 
that are so conspicuous in the first, — wise selection of material, 
absolute clearness of statement, judicial fairness in the treatment 
of open questions, critical insight, width of intellectual perspective, 
elegance of diction, — also characterize the second ; and these two 
volumes may be accepted as the best resume yet made of the his- 
tory, the theory, and the practice of education. 

M. Compayre is too wise, too catholic, and too honest to be an 
extremist, and his familiarity with the history of education has 
presei'ved his respect for the thinkers and teachers of the past, and 
has saved him from the illusion that a revolution in doctrines and 
methods is imminent. As the reader proceeds from chapter to 
chapter he is affected by the words of a judge whose sole preoccu- 
pation is the truth, and not of an attorney who is addressing a jury- 
box. In the wide and wise economy of things, partisans and ex- 
tremists doubtless have their uses ; but the habit of mind that is 
most worthy of cultivation is temperance, candor, and judicial fair- 
ness in dealing with a question so complex and difficult as that of 
education. This is the prevailing spirit of every volume which 
has proceeded from the pen of M. Compayre. 

These lectm-es will commend themselves to that class of teachers, 
now happily growing in numbers, who are looking to psychology 
as the rational basis of their art. They will discover, perchance 
to their surprise and delight, that psychology is not an occult sci- 
ence, but that the main laws and essential facts of the intellectual 
life can be expressed in intelligible terms. This subject, like every 



IV PREFACE. 

other upon which man makes a trial of his thought, finally shades 
off into transcendental vagueness and uncertainty; l)ut happily 
the portions tliat have a real value for guidance lie quite within 
the compass of the common understanding. For the purposes of 
disinterested science the mind may l)e analyzed as though it were 
an inert thing, just as a dead body may be dissected, and most 
psychologies seem to have been written from this point of view ; 
but for the teacher's use the mind should be studied in its cardinal 
movements when engaged in the process of learning. Such in the 
main is M. Compayre's treatment of the subject in Part First of 
these Lectures. 

The thoughtful reader can hardly fail to experience the charm 
of the author's ardent patriotism. In this volume the teacher is 
considered as enlisted in the service of the state, working for her 
preservation, her prosperity, her glory ; and the common school is 
a moidd out of which shall issue the highest type of republican 
citizenship. The teacher who surveys his work from this vantage- 
ground must be made of poor stuff if he does not feel a conscious 
pride in his calling, and does not attain a higher success by keep- 
ing steadily and clearly in view this goal of his efforts. 

In America, as in France, the state by deliberate intent as well 
as by a necessary evolution has become an educator. The public 
school is a civil institution, but on this account it is neitlier god- 
less, unchristian, nor immoral. Between the church and the state 
there has come about a division of functions, and there is no good 
reason why they may not cooperate as honorable and helpful allies. 
This thought has never been more tersely and beautifully expressed 
than in these words by our author : 

" We shall contimie to build on our solid bases of justice, charity, and 
tolerance the human city, while leaving to the ministers of religion 
the task of building beside it what Saint Augustine called *lie city of 
God." 

The teacher's happiness and professional improvement both re- 
quire that he should have an educational creed as an intellectual 
and moral support. In education, as in politics and religion, a 
firm belief in certain first principles is necessary in order to give 
stability to character and to make continuous growth possible. 



PEEFACE. V 

For the ends here pointed out, it is not required that educational 
creeds should be uniform, the essential thing being merely that 
each teacher hold fast to some system of probable truth ; but it is 
necessaiy that each one's creed be elastic enough to accommodate 
new truths or modifications of old truths. We may well take 
alarm when we are no longer conscious of such internal modifica- 
tions of our educational beliefs. The best service a book can ren- 
der a teacher is to assist him in the formation of his opinions, and 
for this purpose it must be dispassionate in toiie and must carry 
critical insight into all its discussions. This volume is pervaded 
by this spirit, so wholesome and helpful, and I experience no little 
happiness from the thought that by means of this translation I may 
help American teachers in the formation of a rational educational 
creed. 

The catholic spirit everywhere manifested by M. Compayre jus- 
tifies me in expressing mild and cautious dissent on a few mani- 
festly open questions ; and I have ventured to express my tliought 
in a few brief articles in the Appendix. 

If this volume shall meet the hearty approval that was given the 
" History of Pedagogy," I shall feel anew my obligations to the 
teaching profession. 

W. H. PAYNE. 

Nashville, April 1, 1888. 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



I DO not presume to offer to the public, in this volume, a com- 
plete treatise on education : my purpose is simpler and more mod- 
est. In bringing together the lectures given in the higher normal 
schools of Fontenay-aux-Roses and Saint Cloud, I have simply 
intended to compose an elementary manual of teaching. In the 
vast field of the principles and the practice of education, I have 
selected only the indispensable ideas, those of which no one who 
educates and instructs children can afford to be ignorant. 

In the composition of this volume I have made free use of the 
■works of my predecessoi's. The best praise that can be given them 
is to do what I have done, — quote them on almost every page. 
However, I have endeavored not to imitate them, in at least two 
respects, — their dryness and their prolixity. 

Too many manuals of teaching, in fact, are but dry nomencla- 
tures, in which the spirit of pure form reigns supreme and multiplies 
divisions, definitions, and distinctions of every sort, with a pedan- 
tic display which seems borrowed from the ancient logic. 

On the other hand, taking advantage of the intimate relations 
between pedagogy and the philosophical sciences, other writers on 
education have given undue extension to the sphere of their art, 
having included in it, in fact, the whole of psychology, the whole 
of ethics, and the whole of philosophy. 

I have sought a just medium between these extremes, and have 
attempted to make my treatment of the subject at once simple and 
of living interest. 

I do not think it enough to enumerate a certain number of 
abstract rules and scholastic formulas : my treatment ascends to 
principles, but with as much discretion as possible. From the 



Vm PREFACE. 

medley of modern lucubrations it lops oft" everything superfluous, in 
order to reserve for use what is really essential ; it restricts itself 
to the clearest and the most practical conceptions. 

1 divide my treatise into two very distinct parts. I first study 
the child in himself, in his natural development, and in the formal 
culture of his faculties ; and then, abandoning the subject of edu- 
cation, I examine the object of it, — that is to say, instruction and 
discipline, the methods of the one and the principles and rules 
of the other. 

In the first part, I call to my aid all who have studied child- 
hood, correcting and completing their observations by my own 
studies. 

In the second part, I have expressly consulted those who have 
professional competence, who have in their own practice put to 
tlie test methods of instruction and principles of discipline. For 
example, in order to extract the practical suggestions that are, 
as it were, buried in them, I have perused the voluminous and 
interesting Rapports of the Inspectors-General upon the condition 
of primary instruction.^ 

Without doubt, the best system of teaching, like the best logic, 
is still that which we make for ourselves through study, experi- 
ence, and personal reflection. Certainly, it is not required to 
have learned by heart and recited, as some authors of teachers' 
manuals still demand, a catechism of method ; but in order to 
aid the reflection and guide the experience of each novice in 
instruction, the book is very far from being useless, though it do 
nothing more than stimulate personal reflection. It is just in 
this spirit, less for imposing doctrines than for suggesting reflec- 
tions, that this modest volume has been written. I trust that it 
may receive the same welcome as my " History of Pedagogy," 
of which it is the sequel. 

1 Paris, Imprimerie nationale, 1879-1880, 1881-1882. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Translator's Preface iii 

Author's Preface vii 

Part I. — Theoretical Pedagogy 1-261 

Chapter I. — Education in General 3-27 

Chapter II. — Physical Education 28-51 

Chapter III. — Intellectual Education 52-72 

Chapter IV. — The Education of the Senses .... 73-93 

Chapter V. — Culture of the Attention 94-113 

Chapter VI. — Culture of the Memory 114-137 

Chapter VII. — Culture of the Imagination .* 138-158 

Chapter VIII. — The Faculties of Reflection, Judgment, 

Abstraction, Reasoning 159-184 

Chapter IX. — Culture of the Feelings ....... 185-202 

Chapter X. — Moral Education 203-226 

Chapter XI. — Will, Liberty, and Habit 227-244 

Chapter XII. — The Higher Sentiments : ^Esthetic Educa- 
tion ; Religious Education 245-261 

Part II. — Practical Pedagogy 203-476 

Chapter I. — Methods in General 265-289 

Chapter II. — Reading and Writing 290-300 

Chapter III. — Object-lessons 310-324 

Chapter IV. — The Study of the Mother Tongue .... 325-342 

Chapter V. — The Teaching of History 343-361 



X CONTENTS. 

Chapter VI. — The Teaching of Geography 362-378 

Chapter VII. — The Teaching of the Sciences 379-396 

Chapter VIII. — Morals and Civic Instruction 397-416 

Chapter IX. — Drawing. — Music. — Singing 417-432 

Chapter X. — Tlio Other Exercises of the School . . . 433-446 

Chapter XI. — Rewards and Punishments 447-462 

Chapter XII. — Discipline in General 463-476 

Appendix 477-481 

A. The Doctrine of Memory ' . . . 477 

B. Analysis and Synthesis 478 

C. The Problem of Primary Reading 479 

D. The Value of Subjects 480 

Index 483-491 



PART FIRST. 

THEOEETICAL PEDAGOGY. 



THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 



CHAPTER I. 

EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 

1. Origin of the Word Education. — "Education" is 
a word relatively new in the French language. Montaigne 
employs it only once, in a sentence often quoted: "I pro- 
test against all violence in the education of a tender soul, 
which is being trained for honor and liberty."^ With this 
exception, he always employs the expression institution cles 
enfaiits, from which we have the word instituteur. The 
writers of the sixteenth century were accustomed to use 
the word notirritnre in the same sense, as in the well- 
known proverb, Nourriture passe nature (Nurture is more 
than Nature). But in the seventeenth century, "educa- 
tion " comes into current use to designate the art of train- 



2. Education is the Prerogative of Man. — To man 
must be reserved the noble term education. Training 
suffices for animals, and cultivation for plants. Man alone 
is susceptible of education, because he alone is capable of 
governing himself, and of becoming a moral being. An 
animal, through its instincts, is all that it can be, or at 
least all that it has need of being. But man, in order to 

1 Montaigne, Essais, I., II., Chap. VIII. 



4 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

perfect himself, has need of reason and reflection ; and as 
at birth he does not himself possess these qualities, he must 
be brought up by other men. 

3. Is THERE A Science of Education? — No one doubts, 
to-day, the possibility of a science of education. Education 
is itself an art, skill embodied iu practice ; and this art 
certainly supposes something besides the knowledge of a 
few rules learned from books. It requires experience, 
moral qualities, a certain warmth of heart, and a real in- 
spiration of intelligence. There can be no education with- 
out an educator, any more than poetry without a poet, — that 
is, without some one who by his personal qualities vivifies 
and applies the abstract and lifeless laws of treatises on 
education. But, just as eloquence has its rules derived 
from rhetoric, and poetry its rules derived from poetics ; 
just as, in another order of ideas, medicine, which is an 
art, is based upon the theories of medical science ; so 
education, before being an art in the hands of the 
masters who practise it, who enrich it by their versatility 
and their devotion, who put upon it the impress of their 
mind and heart, — education is a science which philoso- 
phy deduces from the general laws of human nature, and 
which the teacher perfects by inductions from his own 
experience. 

There is, therefore, a science of education, a practical 
and applied science, which now has its principles and laws, 
which gives proof of its vitality by a great number of pub- 
lications, both in France and abroad, and which has also 
its peculiar designation, Pedagogy^ although there is still 
hesitation in adopting it. 

4. Pedagogy and Education. — It is to be regretted that 
so many writers still confound pedagogy with education. 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. ■ 5 

There is more than a shade of difference between these two 
terms. Pedagogy, so to speak, is the theory of education, 
and education the practice of pedagogy. Just as one may 
be a rhetorician without being an orator, so one may be 
a pedagogue — that is, may have a thorough knowledge of 
the x'ules of education — without being an educator, without 
having practical skill in the training of children.^ 

" To form a man," says Marion, eloquently, " is a fine art, a 
perilous undertaking. In this art do not venture the infallibility 
of a systematic geometry, and do not expect from it the supreme 
tranquillity of finely wrought demonstrations. In the prosecution 
of this art there will be contest, the unforeseen, brusque transi- 
tions, whims, failures, recoveries, inertia, the miracles of free and 
active nature. There will be all the tumultuous ebb and flow, the 
bursting into harmony and the degenerating into chaos, which 
are in man as well as in the sea." ^ 

But from these difficulties in practice we must not con- 
clude either that the rules of education do not exist, or that 
it is useless to know them. In medicine also how much 

1 M. Compayrc's use of the terms pedagogy and pedagogue may be 
illustrated as follows : A writer who discusses educational questions 
from the theoretical point of view is a pedagogue, and his treatise is 
a work on pedagogy ; while a man who directs educational affairs 
without actually teaching, as a superintendent of public instruction 
or of schools, is an educator. A history of pedagogy is an account 
of the rise, progress, and present state of educational theories or ideas ; 
while a history of education is an account of the rise, progress, and 
present state of educational systems and establishments. In other 
words, education in its theoretical or scientific aspect is pedagogy ; 
while in its practical aspect, or in its art-phase, it is education. But 
if distinctive terms are needed to designate these two phases, why 
not call education in the first sense Pedagogics, and in the second 
Pedagogy? We might thus escape the tautology of theoretical peda- 
gogy and the inconsistency of practical pedagogy. (P.) 

2 Marion's Lectures on the Science of Education, Manuel ge'neral 
de rinstruction primaire, Paris, 1884, p. 13. 



6 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

that is uuforeseen, what freaks of nature, how many sur- 
prises that baffle our fears or deceive our hopes ! And 
yet what we deuiand above all else of a physician is to 
have a thorough knowledge of the principles and rules of 
his art. 

Let it not ]:»e said, then, that for educating men there is 
required neither precision of anal^'sis nor science. Let it 
be said, rather, that all this is not enough, because living 
nature, by its sudden upheavals and unexpected falls, 
by its mobility and its diversity, can hold in check the 
best-established calculations. But recollect, however, that 
there are rules and principles, if not infallible, at least 
generally efficacious. Recollect, also, that these rules are 
becoming more exact day by day, and that with the progress 
of science tliis approximation becomes greater and greater. 

The further w^e go, the better we know childhood, and the 
more deeply we fathom the laws of human nature ; the more 
perfect, also, educational methods become, and the more 
nearly tiiey approach the truth. It is said that experience 
is everything and science nothing ; but what, pray, is 
science itself, if not the experience of the ancients and of 
all those who have preceded us? Then let us not allow 
ourselves to think, with Diesterweg, that the study of peda- 
gogy is of no account, and that one is born an educator 
just as one is born a poet.^ Let us not fall into the pre- 
judice of thinking that a professor or a teacher has no more 
need of knowing the theoretical laws of education and 
instruction than we have of learning the functions of diges- 
tion from a book on physiology, in order that our food may 
be properly digested. In the matter of education, that 
which is worth still more than inspiration is inspiration 
enlightened and regulated by science. 

1 CEuvres Choisies de Diesterweg. Hachette, 1884, p. 272. 



EDUCATION IN GENEliAL. 7 

5. Pedagogy, and its Scientific Principles. — Can it 

be said that pedagogy has now become an organized 
science, and that recent progress has liberated it from those 
gropings and uncertainties whicli every science traverses in 
its earlier stages ? We do not go so far in our assumptions. 
Notwithstanding the great feats already accomplished, it is 
still necessary to repeat to-day what Diesterweg said in 
1830. The scientific coordination of the precepts and 
experiments of pedagogy is still rather an aspiration or a 
hope than an accomplished fact. 

"Would to God," he wrote, "that we had made enough 
progress so that, I do not say all men, but merely men of culture, 
were agreed as to the best mode of education ; that we could not 
only determine with certainty what is good and what is bad, and 
what the results are of such or such a method, but also give a 
reason for our conclusions." ^ 

But if we still have need of seeking the solution of certain 
problems, we at least know where these solutions can be 
found, and from what sources we must draw in order to 
give more and more exactness to our conceptions of educa- 
tion. Like all the practical sciences, pedagogy rests upon 
certain theoretical data, or upon a scientific basis. 

6. The Relation of Pedagogy to Psychology. — Just 
as the physician ought to know the organs and the func- 
tions of the body which he treats, the farmer the nature of 
the soil which he cultivates, and the sculptor the qualities 
of the marble which he chisels and of the clay which he 
kneads, so the teacher cannot do without the knowledge of 
the laws of the mental organization, — that is, the study 
of psychology. 

In truth, the rules for teaching are but the laws of psy- 

1 Diesterweg, op. cit, p. 54. 



8 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

chology applied, transformed into practical maxims, and 
tested by experience. 

Psychology is the basis of all the practical sciences which 
have to do with the moral faculties of man ; but the other 
sciences which are derived from psychology treat of but 
certain energies of the human soul, — logic, of thought; 
aesthetics, of the sentiment of the l)eautiful ; ethics, of the 
will. Pedagogy alone embraces all faculties of the soul, 
and should put under contribution the whole of psychology. 

7. Is THERE AN InFANT PSYCHOLOGY? It is UOt, llOW- 

ever, general psychology, the psychology of the grown man, 
which alone ought to inspire the teacher. Whatever may 
have l)een said a])out it, there is a psychology of the child, 
because there is a childhood of the soul. The idealists, like 
Malebranche, should be the only ones to assert that the 
human spirit has no age, that from the hour of birth it is 
all that it can become, and that it is already capable of 
comprehending the loftiest abstractions.^ To an impartial 
observer it is evident that the mind is developed and 
formed in accordance with certain laws of growth which 
definitely constitute the psychology of the child. Psychol- 
og}', in a word, is not an invarialile geometry, establishing 
immutable theorems. ])ut a history, at least for the first 
years of life, which relates the gradual evolution of the 
different faculties. 

It has been truly said that if we wish to train a man, we 
must know the psychology of men ; Imt we would add that 
if we would educate a child, we must stud}^ the psychology 
of the child.2 

1 See Compayre, History of Pedagogy (Boston: 188G), p. 193. 

2 It is safer, with Pestalozzi, to loolv for tlie man in tlie child, than 
to regard the cliild as being sui generis. The proaress from childliood 
to manhood is an insensible transition ; there is no brusque passage 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 9 

8. The Relations of Pedagogy with other Sciences. 
— Of course, siuce pedagogy embraces the whole human 
being, it does not derive its inspiration from psN'chology 
alone. In order to give a competent treatment of physical 
education, and even of certain parts of intellectual and 
moral education, biology in general, and more particular^ 
the anatomy and physiology of man, are summoned to 
render important services. 

In the same way it would be eas}^ to prove that pedagogy 
cannot dispense with the aid of ethics and logic. Educa- 
tion tends to lead man to his proper destination, and it is 
ethics which determines the real end of human actions, 
the essential nature of all that we call good and desiral)le. 
On the other hand, education is the culture of thought 
and reason, and it is logic which makes known the best 
methods of weighing knowledges in order to discover the 
truth. 

Pedagogy, or the science of education, then, has its 
method, which consists in observing all the facts of the 
pliysical and moral life of man, or rather in making use of 
the general laws which inductive reflection has constructed 
from these facts. Let us now define with greater precision 
its object and the principles which ought to guide it. 

9. Different Definitions of Education. — The educa- 
tors are rare who, like Locke, have written formal treatises 
on education without defining it, without collecting into one 
single formula the elements of their system.^ In general, 

from one to the other, such as seems to be implied in the term '' infant 
psychology." However, this distinction will be serviceable if it shall 
emphasize the need of adapting instruction to the powers and the 
mental needs of the child. Dr. White's discussion of this subject 
(Elements of Pedagogy) is valuable. (P.) 
1 See the opening paragraphs of Thoughts on Education. 



10 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

each writer on education lias his own definition, and this 
diversit}' is chiefly due to the fact that the greater number 
have wrongly included in their definitions the indication 
of the particular methods and diftereut means which educa- 
tion calls to its aid. 

It will not be without interest to mention in this place the 
principal definitions that are of note, either on account of 
the names of their authors or of the relative exactness of 
their connotations. 

One of the most ancient, and also one of the best, is that 
of Plato: — 

" The purpose of education is to give to the body and to the 
soul all the beauty and all the perfection of which they are 
capable." 

The perfection of human nature, such indeed is the- ideal 
purpose of education. 

It is in the same sense that Kant, Madame Necker de 
Saussure, and Stuart Mill have given the following defini- 
tions : — 

" Edvication is the development in man of all the perfection 
which his nature permits." 

" To educate a child is to put him in a condition to fulfil as 
perfectly as possible the purpose of his life." 

" Education includes whatever we do for ourselves and whatever 
is done for us by others, for the express purpose of bringing us 
nearer to the perfection of our nature." 

Here it is the general purpose of education which is prin- 
cipally in view. But the term perfection is somewhat 
vague, and requires some explanation. Herbert Spencer's 
definition responds in part to this need : — 

"Education is the preparation for complete living." 

But in what does complete living itself consist? The 
definitions of German educators give us the reply : — 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. ll 

"Education is at once the art and the science of gaiiding the 
young and of putting them in a condition, by the aid of insti'uc- 
tion, through the power of ennilation and good example, to 
attain the triple end assigned to man by his religious, social, and 
national destination." (Niemeyer.) 

" Education is the harmonious and equable evolution of the 
luunan faculties by a method founded uj)on the nature of the 
mind for developing all the faculties of the soul, for stirring up 
and nourishing all the principles of life, while shunning all one- 
sided culture and taking account of the sentiments on which 
the strength and worth of men depend." (Stein.) 

" Education is the harmonious development of the physical, 
intellectual, and moral faculties." (Deuzel.) 

These definitions have the common fault of not throwing 
into sharper relief the essential cliaracter of education 
properly so called, which is the premeditated, intentional 
action which the will of a man exercises over the cliild 
to insti'uet and train him. They might be applied equally 
well to the natural, instinctive, and predetermined develop- 
ment of the human faculties. In this respect we prefer the 
following formulas : — 

" Education is the process by which one mind forms another 
mind, and one heart another heart." (Jules Simon.) 

" Education is the sum of the intentional actions by means 
of which man attempts to raise his fellows to perfection." 
(Marion.) 

" Education is the sum of the efforts whose purpose is to give 
to man the complete possession and correct use of his different 
faculties." (Henry Joly.) 

Kant rightly demanded that the purpose of education 
should be to train children, not with reference to their 
success in the present state of human society, but with 
reference to a better state possible in the future, in accord- 
ance with an ideal conception of luimanity. We must 
surely assent to these high and noble aspirations, without 



12 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

forgetting, however, the practised aims of educational 
effort. It is in this sense that James Mill wrote : — 

" The end of education is to render the individual as much as 
possible an instrument of happiness, first to himseK, and next to 
other beings." 

Doubtless this definition is incomplete, but it has the 
merit of leading us back to the practical realities and 
the real conditions of existence. The word happiness is 
the utilitarian translation of the word perfection. A lofty 
idealism should not make us forget that the human being 
aspires to be happy, and that happiness is also a part 
of his destination. Moreover, without losing sight of 
the fact that education is above all else the disinterested 
development of the individual, of one's personality, it 
is well that the definition of education should remind us 
that we do not live solely for ourselves, for our own 
single and selfish perfection, but that we also live for 
otliers, and that our existence is subordinate to that of 
others. 

What are we to conclude from this review of so many 
different definitions? First, that their authors have often 
complicated them b}' the introduction of various elements 
foreign to the exact notion of the word education, and that 
it would perhaps be better to be satisfied to say, with 
Rousseau,, for the sake of uniting simply on tlie sense of 
the word, " Education is the art of bringing up children and 
of forming men." But if we are determined to include in 
the definition of education the determination of the subject 
upon which it acts and tlie object which it pursues, we shall 
find the elements of such a conception here and there in the 
ilifferent formulas which we have quoted. It would suffice 
to bring them together and to say : — 

"Eduralinn is the sum of the leHective efforts by which we aid 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 13 

nature in the development of the physical,^ intellectual, and moral 
faculties of man, in view of his perfection, his happiness, and his 
social destination." 

10. Division of Education. — Education comprises dif- 
ferent divisions, which correspond to a similar division of 
the faculties of human nature. 

Whatever theory may be held as to the nature of the 
soul, whether it be considered as a distinct and independent 
substance or as related to the body as effect to its cause, 
the duality of the physical and the moral is no less real on 
this account. Hence there is a prime distinction to be 
made between the education of the body and the education 
of the mind. 

But the mind itself is subdivided into a certain number 
of faculties. Thus it has long been the custom to distin- 
guish intellectual education from moral education, the first 
cultivating the intellectual faculties and communicating 
knowledges, the other developing the heart and the will, 
and forming the sentiments, the habits, the conscience, and 
the moral powers. 

In truth, it were preferable, having once started in this 
line of thought, to follow to the end the psychological 
division of the faculties, and to distinguish the education 

^ In a definition of education we cannot omit the development of 
tlie physical faculties. Yet many educators pass them by in silence. 
This is easily accounted for in the case of theologians, like Dupau- 
loup, who define education as "the art of preparing for the life 
eternal by exalting the present life." But it is not so easy to 
explain what Mr. Bain says : " Physical education, however important 
it may be, may be kept quite separate." (Education as a Science, p. 3.) 
So an English writer, James Sully, defines education in too narrow 
a sense when he says that it is " the practical science which aims at 
cultivating the mind on the side of Knowing, Feeling, and Willing 
alike." {Outlines of Psychologij, p. 15.) 



14 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

of the intelligence, the education of the sentiments, and the 
education of the will. 

Horace Mann, the American educator, distinguished the 
tliree essential parts of education in the following eloquent 
extract : — 

"By the word education I mean much more than the ability to 
read, write, and keep common accounts. I comprehend, under 
this noble word, such a training of the body as shall build it up 
with robustness and vigor, at once protecting it from disease and 
enabling it to act formatively upon the crude substances of 
nature, — to turn a wilderness into cxxltivated fields, forests into 
ships, or quarries and claj'-pits into villages and cities. I mean 
also to include such a cultivation of the intellect as shall enable 
it to discover those permanent and mighty laws which pervade all 
parts of the ci-eated universe, whether material or spiritual. This 
is necessary, because, if we act in obedience to these laws, all the 
resistless forces of Nature become our auxiliaries and cheer us on 
to cei'tain prosperity and triumph ; but if we act in contravention 
or defiance of these laws, then Nature resists, thwarts, l)affles us, 
and in the end it is just as certain that she will overwhelm us with 
ruin, as it is that God is stronger than man. And, finally, by the 
term Education I mean such a culture of our moral atfections 
and religious susceptibilities as, in the course of Natiu-e and 
Providence, shall lead to a subjection or conformity of all our 
appetites, propensities, and sentiments to the will of Heaven. "' i 

11. Another Division of Education. — Tlie preceding 
division is founded on the consideration of the subject, ■ — 
that is, of the faculties of man ; but if we regard the object, 
or the end of education, other divisions are made necessary. 

In fact, a general or liberal education, which is meet for 
all, is one thing, and a professional or technical education, 
which prepares only for a given vocation, is quite another. 
At the normal school, for exituqdiN it is not the purpose 

1 Lectures nn Edncntum. Boston, 1855, pp. 117, 118. 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 15 

merely to educate men, but to train teachers ; to a general 
education there is added a special education, an education 
in pedagogy. 

" These two species of education," says Dupanloup, " a general 
and liberal education, and a special and professional education, 
are equally important to man. Moreover, they are not opposed to 
one another. Directly to the contrary, they strengthen and 
pei'fect one another ; each is accomplished tlu'ough the other. To 
neglect one to the advantage of the other would be to weaken 
them, and often to ruin both at once." ^ 

12. Liberal Education. — The true term which should 
be applied to the education which is general and essential is 
"liberal education," although this term has till now been 
expressly reserved for the studies which prepare for the 
liberal professions. 

If all men are free, morally free in the determination 
of their actions, and politicall}' free through their participa- 
tion in the government of the society of which they form 
a part, is it not evident that they all have the right, what- 
ever may be their condition, to a liberal education which 
enlightens and emancipates their mind and their will ? For- 
merly the classical humanities, the dead languages, were 
regarded as the sole instrument of a liberal education ; but 
to-day historical and scientific studies, even reduced to 
their simplest elements, appear to us to be studies truly 
liberalizing, and constitute what might be called the primary 
humanities. Even the physical exercises which give agility 
to the body and prepare it to become at a later period the 
docile instrument of professional education, constitute in 
one sense a part of a liberal education, 

" That man has received a liberal education," says Mr. Huxley, 
" who has been so trained in youth that his body is the ready 

1 Dupanloup, Be VEducation, tome I., p. 312. 



16 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

servant of his will, and does with ease and pleasure all the work 
that, as a mechanism, it is capable of ; whose intellect is a clear, 
cold, logical engine, with all its parts of equal strength and in 
smooth working order, ready, like a steam-engine, to be turned to 
any kind of work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the 
anchors of the mind ; whose mind is stored with a knowledge of 
the great and fundamental truths of Nature and of the laws of her 
operations ; one who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, but 
whose passions are trained to come to heel by a vigorous will, the 
servant of a tender conscience ; who has learned to love all beauty, 
whether of Nature or of art, to hate all vileness, to respect others 
as himself." ^ 

It is not necessary, then, in order to receive a liberal 
education, to aim at a high intellectual instruction. It 
suffices that the elementary instruction has been directed in 
such a way as to prepare for the free development of the 
reason. It may be said, in one sense, that the old educa- 
tion of the Jesuits was not a liberal education, since it did 
not tend in a sufficient degree towards the emancipation of 
the will and the mind. On the contrary, a poor workman 
gives his children a liberal education if he strives to open 
their intelligence and to fortify their moral energy, even 
though it is within his power to teach them nothing else 
than the elements of the sciences. 

13. The Principle of Nature. — Especially since 
Rousseau's time, educational writers are fond of repeating 
that the grand ])rinciple of education is conformity to the 
laws of nature. We do not intend to oppose this notion. 
The nearer we come to the natural needs of the child, the 
more fully we take into account his aptitudes, the more 
perfectly shall we adapt the objects and the methods of 
instruction to the progressive development of his faculties, 

1 Lay Sermons, pp. 34, 35. 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 17 

and to the greater degree shall we make of education a 
useful and truly efficacious work, particularly if we take 
account, not only of the general nature of man, but of the 
particular nature of each child. 

"Man," says Diesterweg, "ought to become what nature has 
destined him to be, and it is from his aptitudes that we are to 
infer his destination. You will vainly attempt to train him for 
things to which he is not atiapted. You will never make an angel 
of him, for he was not born for that. He neither can be nor 
ought to be any other thing tlian a man, and each individual, in 
his turn, becomes what his aptitudes demand and make possible. 
Attempt, then, to make a Mozart of a deaf mute or of a man who 
has no ears." 

We are not called upon, then, as was formerly done, to 
contend against nature, to treat her as an enemy, and to 
resist her as a deadly influence. On the contrary, we must 
have confidence in her, without, however, going so far as to 
abandon ourselves entirely to her. We must treat her as 
we would a friend to whom we listen and whom we follow, 
but to whom it is sometimes necessary to refuse certain 
concessions. 

14. What are we to Understand by Nature? — But 
if the principle of nature is excellent, we cannot conceal 
the fact that this term is vague and that it admits of equi- 
vocation. In reality, what is called nature is after all an 
ideal which each educator conceives in his own way.^ 

" What," says Diesterweg in another place, " is conformity to 
nature? Where shall we find her? How shall we know her? 
What men have remained faithful to her ? Must we look for them 
in the virgin forests of America, or in the various tribes of the 
South Sea, or rather in the civilized nations of Europe ? Where 

1 111 ContrUmtions to the Science of Education I have discussed the 
term " Nature." (P.) 



18 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

are the privileged beings who have been so fortunate as never to 
liave withdrawn from the watch-care of nature ? " 

To find an answer to this question, there is no other 
way than to observe the child with impartiality at the age 
when the conventionalities, the fashions, and the arti- 
fices of society have not yet spoiled his native simplic- 
ity. As Rousseau said, " Let us study the man in the 
child." 



15. Restrictions to the Principle op Nature. — But 
however good our opinion may be of human nature, we 
should not think of humoring it in everything. Mr. Bain 
admits that there are evil instincts, such as anger, hatred, 
antipathy, jealousy, and scorn. Educators should repress 
and correct them, instead of encouraging and developing 
them. 

Moreover, we are not to forget that, when abandoned to 
herself, nature makes only savages. It is education alone 
that can rescue us from the animal state and make men of 
us. As Kant has said, it is education that rids us of our 
natural savagery. 

" Man cannot become man, save through education. He is 
only what education makes him. He who has not been disciplined 
is a savage." 

In other terms, it is not enough that education should be 
inspired by nature and draw her rules from natm-e. Educa- 
tion is no less an art on this account ; that is, a body of 
maxims founded on the experiences of successive genera- 
tions of men, a body of processes brought into conformity 
with the new elements which progress and civilization have 
gradually introduced into the primitive nature of man. It 
is not a question of educating man in general, but the man 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 19 

of the nineteenth century, the man of a certain country, a 
citizen, a Frenchman.^ 

It is with nature in education as with universal suffrage in 
politics. Doubtless we must obey the majority, the law of 
numbers, in our social affairs, just as we must follow nature 
in education. But the majority itself should be inspired by 
reason and justice, and so natural education ought to be 
but the development of the reason which is in man.- 

16. Education the Work of Liberty. — Education, 
then, is not the training of an inert and passive being, but 
the development of a being that is free and active, whose 
instruction we are to provoke, and whose spontaneity we 
are to excite. 

Education has often been likened to sculpture, its purpose 
being, so to speak, to chisel human souls according to a 
highly wrought model. The error in this comparison is 
forgetting that spirit is not inert matter that can be fash- 
ioned as we will, that passively submits to whatever we 
impose on it, as marble or wood to the chisel of the artist. 

1 There has been no greater mistake in educational theory than to 
assume that the education of to-day must be adjusted in accordance 
with the needs of primitive man or of primitive society. For 
example, as, historically, the family came before the state, it is 
assumed that now, when the state has been definitely organized, 
family duties antedate duties to civil society. But tempora mutantur, 
et nos cum illis mutamur. Primitively, parenthood i^receded citizen- 
ship; but now citizenship precedes parenthood. The child must be 
educated, not for the primeval world of barbarism into which the 
parents of the race were born, but for the world re-created by human 
art, into which he himself was born. (P.) 

2 Emerson somewhere uses provocation to denote the spiritual act 
of teaching. Professor Jowett makes Plato (Meno) use the term elicit 
to express the same fact. The term induce perhaps expresses still 
more correctly the real nature of instruction as it was conceived by 
Socrates. (P.) 



20 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Far different is the miud of the child, which ceaselessly 
reacts upon that of the educator, and mingles its own 
activity with his. Education is a work in which pupil and 
teacher co-operate. Often the young co-worker resists by 
his caprices, by a sort of open hostility ; and oftener by his 
inertia he disconcerts the plans of his teacher and takes no 
active part in them. But in an education well administered, 
the pupil ought to be associated with the teacher. On his 
part he should strive to reach the end towards which he is 
being conducted. By his personal efforts he should partici- 
pate in the education which he receives. 

" Teacher," said Pestalozzi,^ eloquently, " be assured of the ex- 
cellence of liberty, and do not allow yourself to be induced, 
through vanity, to devote yourself to the production of immature 
fruits. Let your pupil be as free as he can be. Carefully provide 
everything which allows you to grant him liberty, tranquillity, and 
unruffled humor. Everything, absolutely everything that you can 
teach him through the natural consequences of things, do not 
teach him through language. Allow him in his own person to 
see, hear, find, fall, get up, and be deceived. No words when the 
act, the thing itself, is possible. Whatever he can do himself, 
let him do. Let him always be busy, always active ; and let the 
time during which you do not disturb him in the least be the 
greatest part of his childliood. You will find out that nature 
teaches him much better than men can." 

17. Education a Work of Authority. — It was a wise 
saying of Kant that one of the greatest problems of educa- 
tion is to reconcile the liberty of the child with the necessity 
of constraint. 

It is the same thought which troubled Pestalozzi when 
he wrote : — 

"I often find myself embarrassed for having suppressed, in 
1 Histoire de Pestalozzi, par Roger de Guimps, p. 57. 



EDUCATION IN GENEEAL. 21 

the education of my children, the tone of the master's authority. 
Where shall I find the line between liberty and obedience? 

" There are crises in which the liberty of the child would work 
harm to him, and even under the most favorable circumstances it 
is often necessary to oppose the child's will." 

Education does not abandon nature to herself, but over- 
sees and directs her, and, if necessary, constrains her. In 
a general way, education is the work of authority as much 
as of liberty, and the authority acquired by a master who 
knows how to make himself loved and obeyed will permit 
him to employ persuasion oftener than constraint. The 
more authority he has, the less need he will have to use it. 

One of the masters of contemporary pedagogy, M. Buisson, 
has deftly analyzed the conditions of this authority. 

" The justification of the special authority which is delegated 
to the teacher in education is that it is the only means of assuring 
the development of the pupil. In attaining this result, it is 
evidently necessary, on the one hand, that the teacher really have 
the power to contribute to this development, and, on the other, 
that he have the will. 

"First, he must have the power, and to this end it is above 
all else necessary that he know what he ought to transmit, and 
that he have over the pupil the advantage of experience and of 
a full and serene possession of the knowledge whose elements he 
is to communicate. 

" Nor is this all. Even what he thoroughly knows he must still 
learn to communicate. To teach, to educate, is certainly ah art 

which has its rules and its secrets There are necessary 

mental conditions, that is, aptitudes and habits, which allow the 
teacher, for example, if he is giving instruction, to present his 
subject with system, and yet with variety ; to make for himself 
a plan, and to follow it without falling into dogmatic exactness; 
to know how to make a truth luminous in the minds of children, 
to insist on the important, and to sacrifice or postpone the acces- 
sory. If the teacher is giving moral training, his skill should 
permit him to notice delicately, and to correct still more delicately, 



22 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

faults of mind and character; to persuade and to command, as 
occasion requires ; to encourage, when necessary, and just enough 
not to develop pride ; finally, to govern according to well-estab- 
lished principles, and yet with very fine shades of treatment, those 
little people, so much the more difficult to manage because they 
are so frail and so powerless to govern themselves. There are 
also necessary conditions of character, the absence of which would 
suffice to make the effort to instruct a failure : an even temper, 
the gift of patience, a bearing which is not exactly that oi 
ordinary life, but as it were a mingling of gravity and cheerfulness 
in manner which at once captures the hearts of children ; extreme 
precaution in shunning the very things which in society and in 
the world are the most acceptable and the most sought after. 
There should never be irony, never contradictions and paradoxes, 
never anything which exalts the teacher at the expense of the 
pupil, — much indulgence, and no trace of weakness ; nothing ex- 
citing or brusque ; an inflexible firmness and a paternal gentleness ; 
inexhaustible simplicity in all tilings; finally, a constant effort, 
which becomes insensible in the course of time, to come down to 
his plane, to understand him, to sustain him, to love him. 

" This last word causes us to pass to the second order of condi- 
tions. The teacher must have the will to labor for the develop- 
ment of the child. In fact, it is not so much a question of 
knowledge as of will. If his heart is really fixed on enriching the 
patrimony of the young soul which is confided to him, the teacher 
will infallibly succeed, even though his knowledge is limited. If 
he loves his pupils, he will resolve, as it were, intuitively, a mass 
of those practical problems of which his art is composed; for it 
cannot be too often repeated that edvication is an ai't which is 
administered rather through experience than through fonnulas. 
The teacher wiU hold a just medimn between authority and 
liberty ; he will respect the initiative of the child without demand- 
ing too much of him or abandoning him too much to himself ; he 
will gain ascendency in proportion as he is preoccupied the less 
with himself and the more with liis pupil ; he will perfect himself 
in order to perfect his pupil." ^ 

1 Dictionnaire de Pedagogic, art. " Education." 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 23 

18. Power asd Limits of Education. — Fontenelle was 
certainly wrong when he said : "A good education does 
not make a good character, nor does a bad education 
destroy character." On the contrary, we believe that edu- 
cation plan's an important part even in the formation of 
the higher virtues and the superior qualities of the mind. 
It contributes towards making or unmaking characters. 
But we shall not go so far as to believe, with Locke and 
Helvetius, that education is omnipotent. Doubtless it may 
be held that the power of education is ideally infinite ; ^ but 
as a matter of fact it is limited in its action, either through 
the natural aptitudes and qualities of the individuals upon 
whom it acts, or through the time which it has at its dis- 
posal. 

We shall not say, then, with Helvetius, that "all men are 
born equal and with equal aptitudes, and that the differences 
among men are due to education alone." We must take 
a just account both of natural qualities and of the acquired 
qualities which education grafts upon the natural stock. 

A contemporary writer is also mistaken when he writes 
that ' ' education has no effect, save upon natures of medi- 
ocre mould." ^ It is not true that birth is the only struggle 
endured by great men, and we freely assert that the in- 
fluence of education reaches its maximum when nature 
subjects to its beneficent action her richest contingent of 
powers and faculties. Education can do nothing if it does 
not come in contact with germs to develop ; and education 
reaches its highest perfection in souls when these germs are 
the most numerous and the best nourished by native aliment. 
If one were disposed to exaggerate the power of education 
to the point of believing that it can transform everything, 

1 Marion, Cours sur la Science de I'Education. 

2 Eibot, JDe I'Her^dite, p. 486. 



24 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

it would suffice to remind him of the famous example of 
the education of the Dauphin by Bossuet, the excellence 
of the teacher and the positive mediocrity of the pupil. But 
if, on the other hand, he were tempted to doubt the efficacy 
of education, we would cite in proof of it the education 
of the Duke of Bourgogne, which, directed by Fenelon, 
developed almost all the virtues in a soul where nature 
seemed to have sown the seeds of all the vices. ^ 

To deny the power of education, it would be necessary to 
begin by denying the influence of the habits which play so 
great a part in life, and almost all of which depend on the 
manner in which we have been brought up. Our mind, 
like our character, depends in great part on the manner 
of our education. 

" Education," says Guizot, " fortifies the weak or inert faculties 
of childhood. No one is ignorant of the power that exercise and 
habit have of making the memory more facile and the attention 
more sustained. Our faculties, instead of deteriorating, grow 
stronger by use. Examples of the successful application of the 
will to the perfecting of a given quality are innumerable." ^ 

19. Education and School. — It is true that in order 
to justify the power which we ascribe to education, we must 
transcend the limits of the school and interpret education 
in its widest and broadest sense. In fact, there is not only 
the education properl}' so called, that which proceeds from 
the direct action of teachers ; but there is the education 
of the family, and also that of the social environment in 
which we live. There are what have shrewdly been called 
the occult coadjutors of education, — climate, race, manners, 
political institutions, religious beliefs. There is also a 

1 See Compayre, op. cit, Chap. VIII. 

2 Guizot, Conseils d'un phre sur V education, in Meditations et 
Etudes. 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 25 

personal education, that which one gives himself, and which 
continues all one's life. 

But the agency of the school is none the less important 
on this account, nor the responsibility of the teacher less 
fearful. Self-education is scarcely more than the continua- 
tion of the good habits learned at school. As to exterior 
influences, they are but auxiliaries which can accomplish 
nothing without the cooperation of a regular education, or 
enemies against whom we must react through a good train- 
ing in the schools. What Leibnitz said becomes more and 
more true, that " the masters of education hold in their 
hands the future of the world." 

20. Education in a Republic. — Under a republican 
regime, in a great democracy education acquires a new im- 
portance, because there must then be demanded of the 
virtue, the wisdom, and the liberty of each citizen, the 
order and the peace which despotism had before imposed 
on ignorance and passive obedience. 

"Republican institutions," says Horace Mann, "furnish as 
great facilities for wicked men in all departments of wickedness, 
as phosphorus and lucifer matches f m-nish to the incendiary." ^ 

But these dangers do not discourage the great American 
philanthropist, for, in the first place, it is impossible to 
take a backward step. "The sun can as easily be turned 
backwards in its course, as one particle of that power which 
has been conferred upon the millions can be again monopo- 
lized by the few." 

But it is also in the name of human dignity and of its 
rights that it is meet to demand the free development of 
natural energies, and protest against every system which 
would assume to stifle them. 

1 Horace Mann, op. cit, p. 148. 



26 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" In despotisms the divinely formed soul, created to admire 
through intelligence this glorious universe ; to go forth through 
knowledge, through sympathy with all human fortunes ; to know 
its Maker and its immortal destiny, is driven back at every door 
of egress, or darkened at every window where light could enter, 
and is chained to the vassal spot which gave it birth, where the 
very earth, as well as its inhabitant, is blasted by the common 
curse of bondage. In Oriental and African despotisms, the mind 
of the millions grows only as the ti'ees of a noble forest could grow 
in the rocky depths of a cavern, without strength or beauty or 
healing balm, in impurity and darkness, fed by poisonous exhala- 
tions from stagnant pools, all upward and outward expansion 
introverted by solid barriers, and forced back into unsightly forms. 
Thus it has always fared with the faculties of the human soul 
when concerned in despotism. They have dwelt in intellectual, 
denser than subterranean, darkness. Their most tender, sweet, 
and hallowed emotions have been choked and blighted. The 
pure and sacred effusions of the heart have been converted into 
hatred of the good and idolatry of the base, for want of the light 
and the air of true freedom and instruction ; the world can suffer 
no loss equal to that spiritual loss which is occasioned by attempt- 
ing to destroy, instead of regulating the energies of the mind." ^ 

21. Conclusion. — Education, then, ought to be at once 
an excitation and a restraint. Let us not fear to affran- 
chise, to emancipate minds, if we are wise enough at the 
same time to discover the secret of teaching them modera- 
tion and self-government, if through sufficient culture we 
help them to find within themselves the restraint necessary 
to reform their passions and evil instincts. 

This is why character building is the supreme end of 
education. After all, it is according to our character that 
we act, and it is of much more consequence that we act 
well than that we think well. It is true that our character 
depends preeminently upon our sentiments and our thoughts ; 

1 Horace Mann, op. cit, pp. 144, 145. 



EDUCATION IN GENERAL. 27 

or, in other terms, that moral education depends in part 
upon intellectual education. But moral education is none 
the less the final term of our efforts. 

And to attain this end it is evidently not sufficient to 
possess wisdom, instruction; there must be joined to these 
moral qualities the virtues of the heart and the will. It 
has been said that the effort of education is to form men. 
To this end let teachers begin by being men themselves. 

"Whoever undertakes the education of another should begin 
by completing his own. Emile Souvestre has exemplified this 
truth as follows : A young father, in anticipation of the birth of 
a child, surrounds himself with books on education. But the read- 
ing of these works only increases his uncertainties. Finally, he 
begins to reflect, and, considering the boundless influence of the 
father and mother, upon the tablet which he had prepared for 
taking notes, below the title, Educational Precepts, he wrote merely 
these words : to become better" ^ 

1 Chauvet, L'Education, Paris, 1868, p. 73. 



CHAPTER II. 

PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 

22, A Sound Mind in a Sound Body. — "A sound 
mind in a sound body, — tliis," says Locke, "is the sliort 
but complete definition of happiness in this world." Such, 
therefore, ought to be the double purpose of education. 
Physical education should not be separated from intellectual 
and moral education. And this for two reasons : first, be- 
cause bodily health and strength are desirable and good in 
themselves, because they make a part of that complete and 
perfect life which is the will of nature and the dream of 
education ; and then because the development of the body 
is one of the conditions, one of the means, of the develop- 
ment of the soul, — because the higher life of the spirit is 
not possible, except it have for a support a robust and 
healthy physical life. 

23. Physical Education for the Good of the Body. — 
There have been times when men could believe that the 
ideal was to despise the body, and even to humiliate it and 
mortify it, that this lower element of our being was entitled 
to no respect, to no care, and that human perfection was 
in proportion to the diminution and the decay of the material 
forces. Mysticism proposed, as the unique purpose of life, 
spiritual perfection ; and asceticism, the practical applica- 
tion of the principles of mysticism, took up arms against 
the body, to reduce it to terms by fasting, by tortures, by 

28 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 29 

privations of every description, — if possible, to annihilate 
it, as the source of all sin and of all evil. 

We of to-day have recovered from these chimeras. We 
regard man as a whole which is not to be mutilated in any 
of its parts. Simply because they are inferior in dignity 
to the spiritual forces, the energies of the physical organism 
none the less deserve to be respected and developed. 

" As remarks a suggestive writer," says Herbert Spencer, " the 
first requisite to success in life is 'to be a good animal ' ; and to 
be a nation of good animals is the first condition of national 
prosperity. Not only is it that the event of a war often turns on 
the strength and hardiness of soldiers ; but it is that the contests 
of commerce are in part determined by tlie bodily endurance of 
producers." ^ 

Moreover, it is not simply a question of positive and 
practical interest ; the preservation of health is one of our 
duties. Every conscious infraction of the laws of hygiene 
is a culpable act, and, as Herbert Spencer has justly 
observed, every prejudice voluntarily done to health is a 
physical sin. 

24. Physical Education for the Sake of the Mind. — 
A thing not less positive is that there is a solidarity of 
interest between mind and body. As the physical and the 
moral are, so to speak, the under and the upper textures 
of the same fabric, it would be folly to suppose that we 
could with impunity derange the under without by the same 
act compromising the upper. 

The Greeks understood this, and they associated the 
body and the mind in one harmonious education, in order 
to make man at once "beautiful and good." It was b}' 
them that Montaigne was inspired when he wrote his 
admirable chapter on the "Training of Children." 

1 Spencer, Education, p. 222. 



30 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" It is not enough to toughen the mind of the child ; his muscles 
must be toughened also. The mind is too hard driven if it is not 
assisted ; it has too much to do to fill two offices alone. I know 
how much mine, so prone to le preoccupied with itself, suffers 
from being tied to a body so delicate and sensitive ; and in my 
reading I often notice that in their accounts my authors adduce as 
examples of magnanimity and courage, what ought the rather 
to be attributed to thickness of skin and hardness of bone." 

And further on : — 

" It is not a soul, nor yet a body, which we are educating, but 
a man, and we must not divide him. And, as Plato says, we must 
not train one of them without the other, but we must drive them 
abreast like a span of horses harnessed to the same shaft." 

The moral faculties do not freely expand, except when 
the body is in full health ; and besides, when they have 
once been developed, they do not come into free exercise 
unless they can avail themselves of firm and agile members. 
A good bodily constitution ' ' renders the operations of the 
mind easy and sure ; " and at the same time that it con- 
tributes towards forming the mind, it is a necessary condi- 
tion for the outward manifestation of spirit, and prevents 
the mind from falling back upon itself, lost in futile con- 
templations. 

I well know that we sometimes meet with intelligences 
of the first order, and with strong and courageous wills, 
united to weak and sickly bodies. A man whose physical 
life is but a perpetual discomfort may be distinguished 
from all others by the energy of his mind and the eleva- 
tion of his heart. The example of Pascal, the invalid and 
the man of genius, occurs to the mind of every one. It may 
really happen in certain cases, by a mysterious reaction, 
that bodily sufferings may refine and stimulate the moral 
faculties. In such cases, pain is the principal agent in this 
unusual progress of the intelligence. But these exceptions 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 31 

prove nothing as against the general law. With good 
health, Pascal might have lived longer, and probably would 
have lost nothing of his genius. According to the expres- 
sion which he himself used, it will not do to despise the 
hete, for sooner or later it will have its revenge. It had 
its vengeance on Pascal by killing him. 

" Physical perfection serves to assure moral perfection. There 
is nothing more tyrannical than an enfeebled organism. Nothing 
sooner paralyzes the free activity of the reason, the flight of the 
imagination, and the exercise of reflection; nothing sooner dries 
up all the sources of thought than a sickly body whose functions 
languish, and for which every effort is a cause of suffering. Then 
have no scruples ; asd if you would form a soul which is to have 
ample develoi^ment, a man of generous and inti-epid will, a work- 
man capable of great undertakings and arduous labors, first, and 
above all, secure a vigorous organism, of powerful resistance and 
muscles of steel." ^ 

25. Physical Education as a Preparation for pro- 
fessional Education. — Physical education, like intellec- 
tual and moral education, does not consist merely in a 
disinterested culture of natural powers, but tends towards 
a practical end ; it ought to be a preparation for life, and, 
by reason of its very nature, a preparation for professional 
education, or at least for bodily skill. 

It is hardly possible to introduce into the education of all 
men what Locke and Rousseau desired, the apprenticeship 
to a trade ; but, nevertheless, under all circumstances it is 
well to know how to use one's hands and one's limbs. 

"One of the highest compliments we can pay a man," says 
Saint-Marc Girardin, " is to say that he knows how to surmount 
difficulties, not through artful discourse or through ingenious con- 
versation, but, if necessary, through manual dexterity also; to 

1 F. Marion, Cours sur la Science de V Education. 



32 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

come off conqueror, not merely in great things, but in small ; not 
to be continually in need of using the arms of others in order to 
lengthen his own, and to be embarrassed neither by his own body 
nor by what it has to carry ; but that he is versatile and active, 
that he is neither awkward nor effeminate, — in a word, that he 
can live without having a bell within reach, and a servant within 
sound of the bell." ^ 

It is especially in the common school, by reason of the 
special destination of those who attend it, that physical 
education ought to take a practical direction, and thus pre- 
pare boys for the future occupations of the laborer and the 
soldier, and girls for the duties of the household and for 
the occupations peculiar to women. 

On this point, the official programme of French instruc- 
tion expresses itself as follows : — 

" The purpose of physical education is not merely to fortify the 
body and strengthen the constitution of the child, by placing him 
in the most favorable hygienic conditions ; but it should also give 
him, at an early hour, qualities of deftness and agility, that manual 
dexterity and that promptness and certainty of movement which, 
valuable for every one, are more particularly necessary for pupils 
in the common school, the most of whom are destined for manual 
occupations." '^ 

26. Principles of Physical Education. — It is in the 
education of the body that the greatest credit seems to have 
been given the notion that nature should have her own way, 
that she should be intrusted exclusively with the care of 
developing the organs and regulating their functions. It 
were a grave error thus to hand over the health and life of 
the child to accidents and hazards of every species. Here, 
as everywhere, we must aid nature, and to aid her we must 
know her. 

1 Saint-Marc Girardin, J. J. Eousseau, Tome II. p. 112. 

2 rrogrammes annexed to the official order of July 27, 1882. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 33 

To be wholly rational, physical education should be based 
on a profound knowledge of the different sciences which 
treat of the human body. H^'giene bases its practical rules 
upon the theories of physiology ; gymnastics is founded 
upon the elementary principles of anatomy ; and, in general, 
physical education applies the great laws of the science of 
the body, just as intellectual and moral education applies 
the great laws of the science to the soul. 

27. Physiology of the Child. — Let us add that for 
the body, as well as for the soul, there is an infancy — that 
is to say, a peculiar state of growth — which precedes 
maturity. It is not, then, merely the general physiology 
and anatomy of man that the educator is bound to consult, 
but, in order to be really fit to fulfil his task, he should 
himself construct, as a rule for his procedure, a real physi- 
ology of the child. 

Like the psychology of the child, his pliysiology is a 
histoiy which accompanies little by little the evolution of 
the body, the successive formation of its organs, and the 
organization of the different parts of the nervous system. 
Let us not forget that the child is not a ready-made 
being, a finished product, but a weak and fragile creature, 
" whose muscles, nerves, and organs are in the milk, so 
to speak," and develop but gradually, owing to a slow but 
incessant growth. 

28. Importance op Physiological Conceptions. — It is 
doubtless to parents in particular that falls the obligation 
to know enough of the laws of life not to abandon the edu- 
cation of their children to the quackery of nurses and to 
blind and irrational modes of treatment. In one of his 
eloquent pages Mr. Herbert Spencer has reminded them of 
their duties on this point. 



34 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" To tens of thousands who are killed, add hundreds of thou- 
sands that survive with feeble constitutions and millions that 
grow up with constitutions not so strong as they should be, and 
you will have some idea of the curse inflicted on their offspring 
by parents ignorant of the laws of life. Do but consider for a 
moment that the regimen to which children are subject is hourly 
-telling upon them to their life-long injury or benefit, and that 
there are twenty ways of going wrong to one way of going right, 
and you will get some idea of the enormous mischief that is almost 
everywhere inflicted by the thoiightless, haphazard system in com- 
mon use. Is it decided that a boy shall be clothed in some flimsy 
short dress, and be allowed to go playing about with his limbs 
reddened by cold? The decision will tell on his whole future 
existence, either in illness or in stunted growth, or in deficient 
energy, or in maturity less vigorous than it ought to have been, 
and consequent hindrances to success and happiness. Are children 
doomed to a monotonous dietary, or a dietary deficient in nutri- 
tiveness? Their ultimate physical power, and their efficiency as 
men and women, will inevitably be more or less diminished by it. 
Are they forbidden vociferous play, or (being too ill-clothed to 
bear exposure) are they left indoors in cold weather ? They are 
certain to fall below that measure of health and strength to which 
they would else have attained." ^ 

But though the responsibility in this matter rests chiefly 
upon parents, teachers also, if they have neglected to in- 
form themselves of the laws of the physical life, if they 
set them at defiance by unreasonable commands or by 
ill-timed prohibitions, — teachers also may exercise a fatal 
influence upon the health and vitality of children. Then 
let them take a serious view of their responsibilities, and 
study with care anatomy and physiology as presented in 
the normal schools. Let them supplement these studies 
by their personal observations upon the children of their 
schools ; let them take account of their physical aptitudes, 

1 Spencer, Education, pp. 56, 57. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 35 

of their differences in temperament, and of the natural 
weakness or strength of their constitution. Thus prepared 
in the lessons which they give in gymnastics, in their pre- 
cautions and advice in matters of hygiene, they will not be 
the mere routine adherents to a programme, but will the 
better execute the orders whose meaning and application 
they comprehend. They will put a liberal interpretation 
upon the dead letter of the law ; through their personal 
experience, and through their enlightened interest in the 
particular temperament of each child, they will make this 
letter a living thing. 

29. Positive and Negative Education of the Body. — 
Granting everything that can be claimed for the natural 
vigor of the child's constitution and of his spontaneous 
development, there still remains a vast field of activity open 
to the previsions of the educator. 

On the one hand, the life of the child must be shielded 
from everything which may be the cause of disturbance, 
dissipation, and debility, of whatever would have a ten- 
dency to impair bodily health, such as excessive brain labor. 
Here, properly speaking, is the domain of negative physical 
education, that which consists in conserving and protecting 
the natural forces, and which is almost all summed up in 
prohibitions, in the warnings pronounced by hygiene. 

On the other hand, it is necessary to supplement and 
stimulate the work of nature, to develop and fortify the 
physical powers ; and this deliberate intervention becomes 
more and more necessary, in proportion as the intensive 
culture of the intellect is carried to excess, and to the 
abuses of intemperate study and overcrowded programmes. 
This will be the purpose of a positive physical education, 
of an education which will comprise all the exercises and 
all the sports of childhood, all the practices recommended 



36 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

by hygiene, and all the movements which constitute gym- 
nastics. 

Hygiene and gymnastics, these are the two elements of 
physical education, and both are e([ually necessary. The 
first is, in some sort, a good method of conduct, a kind of 
ethics for the body ; the other is to physical activity what 
study is to intellectual activity, a wholesome and strength- 
ening exercise. Both conspire to endow the body with 
health and vigor ; but hygiene has especial reference to 
health, and gymnastics to vigor. 

30. .School Hygiene. — Volumes have been written upon 
hygiene, and we do not propose to recite even the essential 
things which might be said on such a subject, either from 
the point of view of school hygiene or of the hygiene of 
children and pupils. On this point we refer our readers 
to special treatises.^ 

Hygiene, according to Rousseau, is not so much " a 
science as a virtue ; " that is, it consists above all in abstain- 
ing from whatever is bad, in shunning all excesses, and in 
being temperate in all things. Temperance is the half of 
hygiene. The child whose diet is plain, whose life is 
simple, who is spared every occasion for overtaxing his 
powers, who knows nothing of indigestion, of violent pleas- 
ures and excessive fatigues, — such a child has already 
accomplished much in the way of healthful living. 

1 See particularly Lecons ele'mentairen d'hygiene, by Dr. George 
(Paris: Delalain) ; l' Hygiene et V Education dans les internats, by 
Eiant ; L' Instruction of July 28, 1882 ; the article Hygiene, of Dr. E. 
Pe'caut, in the Bictionnaire de pe'dagogie ; lastly, the Rapports of the 
Commission on School Hygiene, Paris, 1884. 

The English reader is referred to the following books : Charles 
Kingsley, Health and Education ; Archibald Maclaren, A Sijsteiu of 
Physical Education; D. F. Lincoln, School and Industrial Hygiene. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 37 

However, hygiene permits a certain number of positive 
injunctions which relate either to the general cleanliness 
of the body, to diet, or to clothing. The common principle 
of all these injunctions ought to be not to yield too much 
to the inclinations of nature, nor yet to interfere with her 
too much. 

31. The Principle op Physical Hardening. — Such, 
however, is not the opinion of a certain number of educators 
who, like Locke for example, give a much greater extension 
to the principle of physical hardening, and who, under the 
pretext of not spoiling nature by an excess of mildness and 
complacency, end by refusing her the most legitimate grati- 
fications. It is doubtless well to inure children to hard- 
ships, not to enervate them, but to bring them up in country 
fashion. However, we should always take into account the 
diversity of temperaments. 

" If your son is very robust," said Madame de Sevigne shrewdly, 
"a rude education is good; but if he is delicate, I think that in 
your attempts to make him robust you would kill him." 

And even the most robust constitutions cannot be sub- 
jected to all trials. Locke is wrong when he forbids warm 
clothing in winter. Herbert Spencer is wiser on this point, 
when, in the clothing of children, he would take account of 
the natural sensations of heat and cold. 

" The common notion about ' hardening,' " he says, " is a griev- 
ous delusion. Children are not unfrequently ' hardened ' out of 
the world." 

It is chimerical to suppose that by forced modes of pro- 
cedure and by habits early acquired, we can accomplish 
everything through the plasticity of the physical organs. 
There are things contrar}' to our physical constitution, to 
which the organism cannot become accustomed. This is 



38 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

what Goldsmith tried to illustrate when he related this 
anecdote : 

" One day Peter the Great took it into his head that it would 
be best for all sailors to form the habit of drinking salt water. 
He immediately promulgated an order that all naval cadets should 
henceforth drink only sea-water. The boys all died, and there 
the experiment stopped." 

Then let us be wise enough to give sufficient place to 
the requirements of nature, and not revert to the old ascetic 
tendencies which led to dangerous deprivations and hard- 
ships ; but let us be equally on our guard against paying 
homage to the optimism, as unwise as it is seductive, of 
those who, like Herbert Spencer, assert that it is necessary 
in everything to revere the sacred order of nature and 
satisfy all the desires of the cliild, as for example his 
immoderate appetite for sweetmeats. 

32. Cleanliness. — Cleanliness is a virtue, according to 
Volney ; a half virtue, according to others. What admits 
of no doubt is that the opposite of cleanliness is a great 
fault, since it compromises the dignity of the human person 
by giving an offensive appearance to the body. " There 
is a closer relation than we think," said Madame Pape- 
Carpantier, " between physical cleanliness and moral 
purity." 

But cleanliness is valuable in itself, as a hygienic rule, 
as an element of health, and as a preventive of contagions 
which give rise to diseases, light or severe. 

Hence the importance of giving attention to cleanliness. 
It rests chiefly with the family to insist on its observance ; 
but by his advice, by his example, and also by the attention 
which he gives to the subject, the teacher can do much to- 
wards giving the child habits of cleanliness. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 39 

33. Food and Clothing. — Without saying, with Feuer- 
bach, that "man is what he eats," and without accepting 
the absohite assertion of Herbert Spencer, that ' ' the well- 
fed races have been the energetic and dominant races," we 
cannot accord too much importance to alimentation, to the 
quality and the quantity of food. 

Mr. Spencer declares that there are too many rules in 
the nursery, just as there are too many in the state, and 
tliat one of the greatest evils resulting from this state of 
things is that children are too much restricted in their diet. 
"The food of children," he says, "should be highly nutri- 
tive ; it should be varied at each meal ; and it should be 
abundant."^ 

The child, then, should eat till his hunger is satisfied. 
Eating to excess is the vice of adults rather than of children. 
Indigestion, with children, is almost always brought on by 
a reaction against privations, against a prolonged fast. 

As to garments, they should be full and loose, so that 
the body shall feel at ease in them, and that nothing shall 
interfere with the functions of the organism. " Hygienists 
condemn the premature use of the corset for girls, and at 
all times the tunic for boys." ^ 

Locke, with his usual austerity, required the child to 
play bareheaded, and never to wear warm clothing ; he even 
favored the idea of requiring him to wear the same garments 
winter and summer. Mr. Spencer, on the contrary, finds 
that it is folly to clothe children in thin garments. The 
French criticise the English custom of allowing children 
to go bare-legged and thinly dressed ; while the English 
blame the French for the silly things invented by the 
Petit Courrier des dames, which recommends garments that 

1 Education, p. 224. 

2 See Fonssagrives, Education physique des gargons, p. 57. 



40 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

are either inconveuicut or iusafficient.^ Mr. Spencer con- 
cludes thut if clotliing should not l)e so heavy as to produce 
an uncomfortable warmth, it ought always to be warm 
enough to prevent all feeling of cold. 

34. Other Hygienic Requirements. — We are far from 
having enumerated all the precepts of hygiene ; there are 
others bearing on sleep, on work, on recreations, and upon 
punishments. Hygiene particularly recommends physical 
activity as a means of counterbalancing cerebral toil and 
intellectual fatigue. Activity is one of the conditions of 
health. We are nourished, not by what we eat, but by what 
we digest, as a physician has told us ; and Trousseau adds, 
" We digest with our limbs as well as with our stomach." 

But at this point hygiene is almost confounded with gym- 
nastics, of which we now proceed to speak. 

35. Gymnastics. — Generally too much neglected in 
France, but holding a prominent place in Switzerland and 
Germany, gymnastics begins to affect the habits of our 
schools.'^ French legislation has ordained it, and official 
manuals have codified its requirements.^ 

1 See Spencer, Education, p. 250. 

2 The law of March 15, 1850, placed the teaching of gymnastics among 
the optional studies of primary instruction. The decree of Marcli 24, 
1851, included it among the obligatory studies of the normal schools. 
The decree of March 13, 1854, introduced it into the lycees. A decree 
of 1869 (Feb. 3) organized it in the lyce'es and colleges, in the normal 
schools, and in the jirimary schools. Numerous circulars published 
since that pei'iod have given precise instructions and detailed precepts. 
Finally, the law of January 27, 1880, makes obligatory the teaching of 
gymnastics "in all the institutions of public instruction for boys;" 
and the decree of July 27, 1881, says expressly that "each day, or at 
least every other day, gymnastics shall occupy a recitation hour dur- 
ing the course of the afternoon." 

8 See the Manual of Captain Yergnes. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 4l 

This subject is being gradually orgauized, and if it does 
not always meet with competent instructors, it at least 
responds everywhere to the taste of pupils. 

But let us be on our guard lest this taste become an 
infatuation. When the educator has made many efforts 
to introduce a new subject into education, and has at last 
been successful, his part changes ; most often he has to 
repress excesses of zeal, and to maintain within just limits 
that very l)ranch of instruction which he had the greatest 
difficulty in introducing. All the sciences, all the arts, 
whatever they may be, are in their very nature encroaching, 
once the doors of the school have been opened to them. 
They are but means, but they are disposed to make them- 
selves accepted as ends. In the French colleges the study 
of Latin, which should be but one of the modes of intel- 
lectual culture through the use of a foreign language, has 
become the supreme end of education, and there is no longer 
any other thought than to make latinists.^ Let it not be 
so with gymnastics, whose purpose is not to make gymnasts, 
prodigies of strength and agility, but simply to give power 
and suppleness to the muscles ; to govern and facilitate the 
play of the bodily movements ; to assure to laborers vigor- 
ous limbs, good corporeal tools ; to prepare for all men 

1 It is worthy of note, in passing, that teachers often misconceive 
the destination of their pupils. In particular this mistake is made by 
specialists, as in the classics and the sciences, who proceed on the 
hypothesis that all their pupils are to become specialists, — philolo- 
gists or naturalists. In such cases the presumption is set up that 
the sciences must be rediscovered. The story of Agassiz and the 
student with the fish, so often quoted to illustrate the true method 
of teaching science, does not represent the average pupil, who needs 
to learn science chiefly for, the same reason that he learns history, 
for the sake of general information. This subject is discussed at 
some length in Contributions to the Science of Education, Chap. III. 
(P) 



42 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the elements of a robust health aud a long life ; and, finally, 
to develope the physical energies, just as stud}' developes 
the moral energies. 

Doubtless gymnastics has need of apparatus and rigging, 
and for the moment this is one of the difficulties which 
retard its introduction into village schools ; Ijut let it be 
as far as possible independent of these aids, or at least 
let it not abuse them. Let there be no machines that are 
too complicated, no contrivances that are too scientific. 
The report of the special commission appointed in 1868 
had the prudence to condemn ' ' exercises which demand 
too great an expenditure of strength, and which might be 
the cause of accidents." So let us proscribe all the nice- 
ties, all the refinements, which would end in transforming 
the lesson in gymnastics into a training of jugglers or of 
adepts in feats of strength, — in a word, all the exercises 
which do not have the single purpose of giving the child 
a body fit for action and able to resist fatigue. 

3G. Other Results of Gymnastics. — But gymnastics 
has not physical development solely in view. 

A shrewd observer of children. Mademoiselle Chalamet, 
has remarked that gymnastics also proposes, " (1) to disci- 
pline the child ; and (2) to afford him repose from intellec- 
tual labor, and, by this very means, to make the resumption 
of it more eas}' and more profitable."-^ 

Gymnastics, in fact, by regulating the movements of 
the body, by imposing regular and rhythmical evolutions, 
by requiring exact movements, executed with precision and 
promptness, — gymnastics communicates habits of order and 
decision, whose effect survives the exercises which have 
produced them, and which, by a sort of inner contagion, 
are even transmitted to the soul. This result would cer- 

1 Mademoiselle Chalamet, L'Ecole maternelle, p. 275. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. . 43 

tainl}' be attained if the evolutions of pupils were to be 
accompanied by songs, as recommended by Amoras, who 
introduced gymnastics into France.^ 

On the other hand, gymnastics does not labor merely for 
the future by enlarging and strengthening tlie chest, by 
giving suppleness to the limbs, and by contributing to 
the health of the child. It also acts immediately upon the 
state of the body, whose forces it renews, and upon the 
nervous system, which it tempers ; it has a happy effect 
upon studies, because it re-establishes the equilibrium in 
the organism, and at the same time gives the mind more 
vigor and elasticity. Gymnastics, like play, takes the child 
weary, enervated by study and cerebral effort, and restores 
him to intellectual labor refreshed and active. But it will 
do this on one condition, that we never pass the limit 
beyond which fatigue would begin. An excessive exercise 
of the body makes the mind inert, while moderate exercise 
reanimates and refreshes it. Especially in our day, when 
an over-crowded programme subjects the child to severe 
intellectual efforts, when " a system of high-pressure educa* 
tion," as Mr. Spencer says, requires excessive application, 
an alternation of physical and mental exercises becomes 
more and more necessary in order to re-establish and renew 
without cessation the forces which the abuse of mental 
labor is not slow to exhaust. 

37. MiLiTAKY Gymnastics. — It is not only in our day, 
as one might suppose, that men have thought of exercising 
children in the handling of arms. 

1 In the Rapport of Dr. Javal, Sur I'Hygiene des e'coles primaires 
(Paris: 1884), we find the following precept: Children must be pre- 
vented from singing during violent gymnastic exercises and while 
running. But evidently this prohibition does not apply to elementary 
exercises, to rounds, and to evolutions. 



44 THifORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" I saw yesterday," wrote Madame de Sevigiie, " a little boy 
whom I found to be a fine fellow. He is seven years old, and his 
father has taught him to handle the musket and the pike. It is 
the finest thing in the world. You would love that little child. 
This exercise limbers his body and nuxkes him deliberate, dex- 
terous, and resolute. To my mind, this is better than a dancingr 
master." 

It is needless to insist on the utility of military gymnas- 
tics, which is- a preparation for the duties of citizenship 
and an apprenticeship in the habits of a soldier, at the 
same time that it offers most of the advantages which can 
be obtained from the practice of ordinary gymnastics. It 
is sufficient to call to mind the place which military drill 
has long held in the schools of Germany. 

38. Gymnastics for Girls. — We must not conclude from 
the fact that the law of 1880 is content with imposing upon 
boys the obligation to receive instruction in gymnastics, 
that such instruction is not adapted to girls. 

•' Women," said Monsieur Laisne, " have need of gymnastics 
even more than men ; for in their case the obstacles whicli civilized 
life opposes to physical development are much more nmnerous 
and even much more fatal." ^ 

Herbert Spencer vigorously combats the prejudice which 
excludes girls from physical exercises. He conceives for 
them an education as boisterous and as active as that of 
their brothers. He even urges them to violent sports and 
to long walks, to whatever can produce in them a robust 
physical development. He would have them run like mad- 
caps and grow up amid gambols and rude sports. There 
is no fear, he adds, that this will afterwards affect the 
delicacy and grace of their manners. 

1 Laisne, Gymnastique j)ratique, Preface, p. 13. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 45 

" If the sportive activity allowed to boj's does not prevent them 
from growing up into gentlemen, why should a like sportive 
activity allowed to girls prevent them from growing up into 
ladies? Rough as may have been their accustomed playground 
frolics, youths who have left school do not indulge in leapfrog in 
the street or marbles in the drawing-room." ^ 

Doubtless it is unnecessary to subject the two sexes to 
the same rc'gime. Plato and some utopists of the French 
Revolution are the only ones who could dream, in their 
passion for equality, of an education absolutely the same, 
in which girls should be dressed like boys, and, like them, 
should mount horse and bear arms. No ; nature requires 
that we take into account the difference which she has 
established in ph3'sical constitution as in social destination. 
There should be special programmes and distinct manuals 
of gymnastics for the two sexes. Certainly there should 
not be required of women the prolonged running, the violent 
leaps, and the feats of strength, — any of those exercises, in 
a word, — which are befitting only to the muscular strength 
of men. We must ever keep in mind with what a delicate 
and frail being we have to do. 

But with these reservations, it is safe to say that, at 
least in towns, young women need to be subjected to 
gymnastic discipline. 

" The boy always finds a means of escaping somewhat from the 
influence of bad lodging and an unwholesome mode of life. lie 
is out of doors, walks the streets, idles about town, lives much in 
the open air. But the girl, on the contrary, is sedentary, remains 
within doors, escapes no restraint. The direct consequence of 
this is a greater debility, which can be repaired only by more 
energetic and more assiduous care. What physician in the poorer 
quarters of cities has not been painfully struck by that muscular 
feebleness, by that nervous debility, and by that impoverishment 

1 Education, p. 225. 



46 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

of the blood which chai-acterize the young women of the lower 
classes, and make of them, at a late period, the victims of grave 
nervous disorders, or at least women rarely capable of sustaining 
with impunity the fatigues of maternity ? " ^ 

39. Official Programmes. — It has not been thonglit 
sufficient to recommend gymnastic exercises, or even to 
impose them by law ; the programme of this new instruction 
has recently been prepared. Already, in 1872, in the 
schools of Paris, instruction in gymnastics had been organ- 
ized according to a regular plan. 

"The lessons, based on the elementary principles of general 
anatomy, comprise exercises in walking, simple movements, move- 
ments combined with the xylofer,^ the handling of dumb-bells, 
jumping, and, for the oldest pupils, parallel bars and the 
ladder. All the movements are accompanied by an easy and 
pleasing song, which helps to strengthen the muscles of the 
respiratory organs." ^ 

We now present the text of the official programme estab- 
lished in 1882: — 

Infakt Class. — Plays, rounds, evolutions, rhythmic move- 
ments, the little games of Madame Pape-Carpantier. Graduated 
exercises. 

Elementary Course. — Preparatory exercises, movements and 
flexions of the arms and legs. Use of the dumb-bells and bar. 
Cadenced running. Evolutions. 

Intermediate Course. — Continuation of the exercises in the 
flexion and extension of the arms and legs. Practice with dumb- 
bells. Exercises with the bar, rings, ladder, knotted cord, sus- 
pended bars, fixed horizontal beam, the pole, the trapeze. Evolu- 
tions. 

1 Revue pedagogique, Nov. 25, 1882, article by M. E. Pe'caut. 

2 An instrument recommended by Dr. Tissot in 1870, constructed 
by Laisne in 1873, whose purpose is to expand and develop the chests 
of children. 

3 M. Greard, L'Enseignenient primaire a Paris, p. 113. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 47 

Higher Couuse. — Continuation of the same exercises. Ex- 
ercises in equilibrium upon one foot. Arm movements, combined 
with walking. Exercises two and two with the bar. Races, 
jumping. Cane exercise (for boys). 

40. Play and Gymnastics. — As it has been justly said, 
gymnastics, understood as a science of movements, as a 
systematic and exact art of pln'sical exercises, — gymnas- 
tics, when introduced into the school, is but an additional 
lesson there. Now it is particularly of physical activity 
that it is true to say that, in order to attain its purpose, 
it ought to be agreeable, to please the chikl, to conform to 
his tastes. If pleasure does not attend them, physical 
exercises will not Itave the salutary effect that is expected 
of them. From this point of view, the monotonous, artifi- 
cial, and unnatural movements of gymnastics are certainly 
not worth the free and joyous effort that comes from 
activity in play. 

" The truth is," says Mr. Spencer, " that happiness is the most 
powerful of tonics. By accelerating the circulation of the blood, 
it facilitates the performance of every function, and so tends 
alike to increase health when it exists, and to restore it when it 
has been lost. Hence the essential superiority of play to 
gymnastics." ^ 

In pursuing his formal strictures against gymnastics, 
which "must be radically defective as not supplying these 
agreeable mental stimuli," the English educator remarks 
that it has still another fault ; the prescribed movements 
which it imposes, necessarily less diversified than the move- 
ments which result from free exercises, develop but a part 
of the muscular system, exercise only particular organs, and 
consequently do not produce an equal distribution of activity 
among all parts of the body. 

1 Education, pp. 257, 258. 



48 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

The legitimate prefereuce whicli Mr. Spencer accords to 
play, to the spontaneous activity of the child, almost neces- 
sarily leads him to the extreme and false conclusion that 
gymnastics is a bad thing, and that it can be accepted at 
best only as a make-shift, — " formal exercises of the limbs 
are better than nothing." 

We are far from sharing this opinion, and it seems to 
us that Laisnc was more just in his appreciation when he 
wrote : 

" Ordmary sports, with their inconveniences, disordered and 
unsystematic, cannot replace gymnastics ; but, conversely, gym- 
nastics, regular and systematic as it is, ought not to supersede 
play where all children abandon themselves to the frolics of their 



41. Necessity op Play. — This is not the place to dis- 
cuss exhaustively the question of sports. In fact, sports 
do not affect physical education alone ; they have intimate 
relations with the culture of the imagination and with 
aesthetic education, and we shall have occasion to return 
to the subject. 

But it is well to state before going further how important 
it is, from a sanitary point of view, that the child should 
play, and how much it were to be regretted should the 
habit of playiug disappear from our schools, as it tends, 
alas ! to disappear from social life. 

" Play in the open air, which invites to jump, to run without 
interruption, to shout at the top of the voice, which causes the 
blood to circulate vigorously, and gives color to the cheeks, — this 
is the agent of all others for physical development. The English 
and the Americans well know this, and with them play is a 
national institution." 

The French, on the contrary, play less and less, and the 
fault is due in part to the habits contracted in the colleges, 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 49 

and also in part to the teachers, who, in general, have 
disparaged sports too much, — "those nothings which are 
everything in the life of a child." Froebel is almost the 
only one who has given that attention to the subject which 
it merits. 

" We should not consider play," he says, " as a frivolous thing ; 

on the contrary, it is a thing of profound signification By 

means of play the child expands in joy as the flower expands when 
it proceeds from the bud ; for joy is the soul of aU the actions of 
that age." 

42. Physical Exercises in England. — Physical educa- 
tion still counts so many adverse critics among the French 
that it is not useless to invoke the example of foreign 
nations. No one will deny that the Anglo-Saxon race 
stands in the front rank among the human races, and it 
owes its superiority in part to its taste for physical exer- 
cises. 

On this point let us quote the testimony of an acute 
observer, M. Taine.^ 

" There are gentlemen in England," he says, " whose ambition 
and training are those of a Greek athlete. They restrict them- 
selves to a particular diet, abstaining from every excess in food 
and drink. They develop their muscles and subject themselves 
to a rational system of training 

" Sports hold the first place, said an Eton master, and books the 
second. A boy stakes his reputation on being a good athlete. 
He spends three, four, five hours a day in boisterous and violent 
exercise. He will splash about for hours in ploughed fields and 
miry meadows, falling into the mud, losing his shoes, and pulling 

himself out as best he can The university continues the 

school, and in it there reigns an active, popular, almost universal 
taste for athletic exercises. Playing at cricket, rowing, sailing, 

1 M. Taine, Notes sur I'Engleterre, Paris, 1872, Chap. IV., L'Educm- 
tion. 



50 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

training dogs to hunt rats, fishing, hunting, riding on horseback, 
coaching, swimming, boxing, fencing, and recently amateur sol- 
diering, — these are the most interesting occupations for the 

young men Doubtless muscular training carried to such 

an extent entails some rudeness in manners ; but, by way of com- 
pensation, this athletic and gymnastic discipline has this dovible 
advantage, that it chills the senses and pacifies the imagination. 
Moreover, when the moral and mental life is afterwards developed, 
the soul finds, to support it, a more healthy and a more substan- 
tial body." 

We do not desire, any more than M. Taine does, to 
disguise the faults which this extreme attention to the 
physical life, this mania for muscularity, is likely to en- 
gender. Plato, two thousand years ago, drew the portrait, 
but little flattering, of the man who trains only his body, 
"who lives in ignorance and awkwardness, with no sym- 
metry and no grace." ^ English education must often end 
in producing coarse natures, dolts ; but, on the other hand, 
it hardens the body and tempers character. 

43. Conclusion. — It is only till lately that the theory 
and the practice of education have given to physical exer- 
cises their proper place ; and already, in presence of the 
progress, still uncertain, of gymnastics, some minds have 
taken the alarm. It is to be feared, some say, that the 
new generations may be ' ' trained to passive obedience 
through the development of physical exercises." It is even 
said that education, thus conducted, lowers man towards 
the level of the beast. ^ This is surely misplaced zeal to 
hurl anathemas against a thing the most innocent and the 
most legitimate in the world, the development of physical 
power. If it were necessary to choose between mind and 

1 Republic, 411. 

2 See the Lent Sermon of the Bishop of Versailles, 1885. 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION. 51 

gymnastics, we would freely exclaim, Long live mind ! 
Down with gymnastics ! But surely there is no need of 
such a choice. The mind can derive only good from a 
moderate exercise of the body. As to saying that the habit 
of passive obedience will be the result of this new taste 
for physical discipline, it is to forget that well-worn truth 
that a man is so much the more free, so much the more 
independent, as he has more power at his disposal. We 
have never observed that in the religious orders, where 
passive obedience is most strongly recommended, and where 
the maxim perinde ac cadaver has reigned, much attention 
has been given to physical development. In such cases 
asceticism has flourished, not gymnastics. 



CHAPTEE III. 

INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. — GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

44. Is THERE AN INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION? It iS Still 

the general usage to reserve the word education to designate 
the formation of morals and character. The precise object 
of education proper, in distinction from instruction, is the 
culture of the will and the heart, as opposed to that of the 
intelligence.^ There is, however, an intellectual education, 
but it is something more than instruction, though it includes 
it and depends in great part upon it. 

"The mind," said Locke, "is the principal part of 
human nature, and education ought to bear chiefly upon 
what is within man." It cannot be doubted, in fact, that 
the intelligence and the interior faculties are, still more than 
the physical faculties, the object of education, either by rea- 
son of the dignity of thought, — ' ' for it is from this source 
that we must gain the power to rise," — or because, nature 
and instinct playing a less important part in mental develop- 
ment, the intervention of the educator is here particularly 
necessary. 

45. Relation of Intellectual Education to Physical 
AND Moral Education. — Intellectual education is by no 

1 H. Marion, Lecons de psychologie, p. 49. The meaning of this 
term is not so restricted by English writers, who apply it in the same 
sense to body, mind, and character ; though the essential idea in each 
case is that of discipline or formation, rather than of insti'uctiou or 
information. (P.) 
52 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 53 

means an isolated thing, separated from all the rest. On 
the contrary, it is but a fragment of the general education 
of man, having intimate relations with physical education, 
and also with moral education. 

When science shall have succeeded in solving the ques- 
tion, still obscure, of the relations between the physical and 
the moral, between brain and thought, the influence of the 
education of the body upon the education of the mind will 
become perfectly apparent. But even now, it is sufficient to 
have observed children to be convinced that their intellectual 
evolution corresponds to their state of health, to the nature 
of their temperament, to their strength, or to their weakness 
of body. 

And, on the other hand, notwithstanding the clamorous 
assertions of Herbert Spencer, with respect to the impotency 
of instruction and its moral sterility, it is evident that the 
education of the mind is a preparation for that of the heart 
and the character, and that there is an element of truth 
in the old Socratic maxim, "Knowledge and vu-tue are 
one."^ 

46. Definition of Intellectual Education. — Every- 
thing which contributes to making the mind active, to 
developing, strengthening, and training it, and also to en- 
lightening and ornamenting it, forms a part of intellec- 
tual education. But there is an important distinction to 
be made : it is one thing to build a house, and another 
thing to furnish it." And so, with respect to the intelli- 
gence, it is one thing to cultivate it for itself, by developing 

1 See Compayre, History of Pedagogy, p. 380. 

2 A very true statement of the case will be made, if we say that 
the purpose of intellectual education is to train or discipline the mind 
and to furnish it, and that this furnishing is to serve two purposes, 
use and enjoyment. (P.) 



54 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

its faculties, and another thing to furnish it with the knowl- 
edges which constitute either the elements of wisdom or real 
science. 

Then we shall not confound instruction proper, the study 
of whatever must be learned and known, with the general 
culture of the intelligence, the educative effort by virtue of 
which the child leaves school not only instructed, but ca- 
pable of carrying forward his own instruction ; teachable, 
furnished with strong and pliant faculties, with an agile 
and firm memory, with accurate judgment, and with the 
power of exact reasoning. 

" Education," says Dupanloup, " eonsists essentially in the de- 
velopment of the liuman faculties. 

" If the care of the master and the efforts of the pupil do not 
result in developing, extending, elevating, and strengthening the 
faculties ; if they are limited, for example, to providing the mind 
with certain knowledges, and, if I dare say it, to storing them 
away there without adding to its breadth, its power, and its nat- 
ural activity, education will not have taken place ; there will be 
nothing but instruction. I would no longer recognize in this proc- 
ess that grand and beautiful creative work which is called educa- 
tion, edncare. The child might be, sti'ictly speaking, instructed, 
but he would not be educated. Even the education of the intel- 
lect would be imperfect. 

"In this there would be at most only an instruction of low 
quality, and in some sort passive, such as a weak and incom- 
plete being might receive." ^ 

In other terms, education has not only to present knowl- 
edges to a mind already formed, but its very first duty is 
to form that mind. 

47. The Instruction and Education of the Mind. — 
Intellectual education is, then, something besides instruc- 

1 Dupanloup, I)e I'Education, liv. ler, chap. ii. 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 55 

tion: it is the end and aim, — instruction is but the means 
of attaining it. But instruction is not only valuable in 
itself : it is the essential means, the most powerful instru- 
ment, of intellectual education. 

Instruction, in fact, brings to the mind the aliment it 
needs for nourishment, for adding to its growth and 
stature. 

On this point American educators are fond of compar- 
ing the. mind with the body, and try to show that knowl- 
edge is the aliment of the spirit. 

" The appetite," says Mr. Baldwin, " craves food, and in the 
presence of suitable food the entire digestive apparatus acts ; 
food is converted into muscles ; muscles are used ; the result is 
physical power. The soul longs for knowledge; in the presence 
of suitable knowledge every faculty of the soul is roused to ac- 
tion ; the child knows, feels, chooses, acts ; the result is increased 
mental power." ^ 

No doubt the mind, if not fed, would become impover- 
ished and enfeebled. Even in mature age the intelligence, 
if it does not renew its provision of ideas by study, lan- 
guishes and grows weak, just as the body becomes ema- 
ciated under the influence of privations and of prolonged 
fasting. For a still better reason, at the period of its 
early development the intellect cannot grow strong if it 
is not nourished ; and it is instruction which is the aliment 
of the spirit. 

I add that if the aliment is well chosen, if the knowl- 
edges are presented with order, with discernment ; if the 
studies are systematic and well conducted ; not only will 
the mind become strengthened by them, but it will also 

1 Baldwin, The Art of School Managemeitt, New York, 1881, p. 313. 
See the same principles developed in The Principles and Practice of 
Teaching, by James Johonnot, p. 15. 



56 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

be trained. The natural fruit of instruction, wisely admin- 
istered, is not only wisdom but precision in the play of 
the faculties, — in a word, intellectual education. 

It is true, on the other hand, that instruction, if poorly 
administered, might still transmit knowledge, but it would 
be valueless for the general culture of the mind. Incom- 
plete studies leave dangerous flaws in the intelligence ; 
they develop only one or two faculties at the expense of 
all the others. Studies that are too hasty weary the 
mind, and may enervate it for life ; pushed too far, they 
encumber and weigh it down ; irregular and disconnected, 
they becloud and deform it. 

48. Methods of Culture and Methods of Instruc- 
tion. — Instruction and intellectual education, then, are 
things which are inseparable. All the faults and all the 
excellences of instruction will be re-echoed in the develop- 
ment of the faculties, and will contribute, for good or ill, 
to the culture of the mind. 

There is no other means of cultivating and forming 
the intellectual faculties than exercise, — exercise which is 
judicious and prudent ; and there is no other intellectual 
exercise than instruction under its different forms. 

Does it follow tliat the educator ought immediately to 
undertake the examination of the different branches of 
instruction in order to study their methods, and that he 
has no other course to follow, in order to direct intel- 
lectual education and to determine its laws? 

By no means. There are two different points of de- 
parture in pedagogy, — either the thinking subject who 
is to be educated, or the objects which are to be taught. 
In the first case we start from the nature of man, con- 
sider the laws of the formntion of the faculties, and pro- 
pose general methods of culture in conformity with these 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 57 

laws. In the second case we start from each one of the 
several branches of instruction, determine their nature 
and characteristics, and then determine the methods of 
instruction which are in conformity with these charac- 
teristics. 

In other terms, there are methods of culture inferred from 
the laws of psychology, and methods of instruction which, 
while striving to accord with ps^^chology, are based chiefly 
on the nature of the knowledges which are to be taught. 

We shall first study the methods of culture, by examining 
the different faculties one after another ; but before en- 
tering upon this detailed examination, it is necessary to 
reply to some general questions which govern the whole 
subject, and to recall certain principles which apply with- 
out distinction to all the parts of intellectual education. 
Moreover, it is not best to make too much of these consid- 
erations, which, simply because they are very general, offer 
no great practical interest. An American educator enu- 
merates no less than fourteen general principles of intellec- 
tual education.^ We shall not imitate his example, for 
to do this it would be necessary to enter upon the task 
of transcribing in this place all the results of psychological 
study. We shall assume that these results are known for 
the most part, and shall limit ourselves to a few obser- 
vations on the order of development of the faculties, on 
their necessary Iiarmou}', on the essential characteristics 
of intellectual education, and on the applications to edu- 
cation which result from them. 

49. Order of the Development of the Faculties. — 
Is it true that all the intellectual faculties expand at once, 
just as at nightfall all the stars glow in the heavens? Or, 

1 J. P. Wickersham, Methods of Instruction, pp. 37 - 51. 



58 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

on the contrary, do they develop only successively, as the 
flowers unfold one after another on the stalk which supports 
them? 

Educators have resolved the question differently. If we 
are to believe Rousseau, .the mind is formed, so to speak, 
of successive layers ; there are stages, steps, in the evolution 
of the intellect. To the faculties of sense, which manifest 
themselves from the earliest years, there succeed very much 
later tlie faculties of abstraction and of reasoning. 

Other writers, who approach nearer the truth, incline 
towards the contrary exaggeration, and for the principle 
of succession substitute that of simultaneity. 

" We would bring all the facilities under the view of the educa- 
tor," says E. Joly, " for the purpose of studying them in the light 
of a useful and practical principle. This principle we would 
formulate as follows : The intellect is an aggregate of faculties 
which are developed simultaneously, and lend one another mutual 
assistance." ^ 

The truth is that all the mental faculties, if we consider 
them in their germs, appear in the child at the same time ; 
but they acquire their full power, attain their maturity, only 
one after another, and in an invariable order determined by 
the progress in age. 

Herbert Spencer, in well-known pages of his " Educa- 
tion," has determined the laws of intellectual evolution. 
He proves that the mind proceeds from the simple to the 
complex, from the concrete to the abstract, from the par- 
ticular to the general, from the indefinite to the definite, 
from the empirical to the rational.^ 

From these he concludes that we should first present to 

1 PI Joly, Notions de pe'dagogie, p. 32. 

2 For Joly's criticism on the laws laid down by Mr. Spencer, see 
Notions de pe'dagogie, pp. 46 et suiv. 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 59 

children only simple subjects for study, sensible objects, 
particular things, in order to lead them forward step by 
step to complex truths, to abstract generalities, to con- 
ceptions of the reason ; and he draws the further inference 
from them that we can require of the infant intelligence 
only incomplete and vague notions, which tlie travail of the 
spirit will gradually elaborate and classify. 

50. The Intellectual State of the Child. — Closely 
examine the child, and you will see that his faculties resem- 
ble those of the grown man more closely than is generally 
supposed. 

" The child of five years," says Madame Necker de Saussure, 
" is in possession of all the intellectual faculties accorded to 
humanity. Some of these faculties, weak and but little used, and 
often called into play by the most frivolous motives, express them- 
selves as yet only by insignificant acts ; but nevertheless we see 
them manifest themselves." ^ 

In the simple fact of drawing back his hand from the 
fire because he has once been burned by it, the child exhil)its 
memory, judgment, and inductive reasoning. It is none the 
less true that, in general, he feels more than he reasons, 
and that when he reasons he does so in his own way. 

" The perceptive powers," says Mr. Wickersham, " are sti'onger 
and more active in youth than the other intellectual faculties." ^ 

And the American educator adds : 

" A child is merely an animal until there is awakened in him 
the power of self-consciousness. After tliis I can find no time 
when all his faculties are not active in some degree ; but his 
perceptive powers are the strongest and most active during the 
whole period of childhood and youth." 

1 L'Education progressive, Touie I., Preface. 

2 J. P. Wickersham, Methods of Instruction, pp. 40, 41. 



60 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" We nowhere find nature beginning anything," says Madame 
Necker de Saussure ; " we never surprise her at creating ; she 
always seems to be developing.' 

In other terms, if the child is alread}', from the intellectual 
point of view, a little man, if we find in him the germ and 
almost the equivalent of all the faculties of mature age, at 
least these faculties do not affect the same aspects in his 
case, are not all presented with the same degree of power 
and precision. Just as all articles of food do not agree 
with the stomach of the baJ)e, which as yet digests only 
milk, so all reasons are not fit for the reasoning of the child. 
He already feels the need of finding an explanation for 
things, of seeking their cause and purpose ; but he will 
accept for such explanations reasons which are trivial and 
puerile. The progress accomplished b}^ man from his early 
years up to maturity introduces into the mind no powers 
which are really new ; but it modifies their character, 
increases their vigor, and extends their compass. All the 
faculties are awakened at the same time in the human 
intelligence, just as upon a race-course all the runners start 
at the same instant ; but they do not advance at the same 
pace, — some take the lead, while others fall behind, and 
they reach the goal only one after another. 

51. Progressive Education. — Intellectual education will 
take account of this successive development of the faculties. 
It will be progressive ; it will not forget that in its slow 
evolution the mind changes its identity from moment to 
moment ; that there are ages for the intelligence as for the 
body ; that little by little the primitive dispositions are 
renewed and transformed ; and that the moral nature is 
insensibly created. Consequently, in the aid which it will 
bring the child, either for exciting or for moderating his 
faculties, education will adapt itself exactly to the conditions 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 61 

of nature and to the changes which occur in the soul with 
the march of time ; it will accompany the mind in all the 
stages of its progress, and will adapt itself to all its move- 
ments ; it will be, as Mr. Spencer has said, "the objective 
counterpart of the subjective development of the mind." 

52. Equilibrium and Harmony of the Faculties. — 
From having recognized the differences which nature has 
established, with respect to the degree of development, 
among the faculties of the child, we shall not on that 
account come to forget the unity of the human soul. Edu- 
cation should be progressive, and not successive, as Rous- 
seau wished. The author of the Emile, so to speak, cut 
the existence of the child into distinct sections, as the period 
of sense-perception, the period of judgment. No ! the 
mind of the child is already an organized and complete 
whole, which contains in germ all the faculties ; and if it 
is not possible to put them all upon the same footing, to 
make them all march abreast, at least there is not a single 
instant in life when we should not try to cultivate and 
develop them all, though in different degrees. 

The independent culture of each faculty should not make 
us lose sight of the final aim, which is the harmony and 
the equilibrium of all the faculties. 

" The equilibrium of the faculties, in the human intelligence, 
is what tlie equilibrium of forces is in the physical world, — it 
maintains order without hindering movement. Every faculty 
strong enough to suspend or cripple the action of other facul- 
ties is a despot; and in order to be sound the mind needs to 
be free." ^ 

Let us be on our guard against minds in which certain 
intellectual dispositions dominate exclusively and smother 

1 Guizot, Conseils d'un pere sur V education. 



62 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the others. "When certain faculties destroy the equilibrium, 
genius, it is true, sometimes appears ; but the more often 
that which results from this unequal education is incohe- 
rence, disorder, and impotence. 

The ideal of a good intellectual education is a mind 
in which all the faculties occupy a place proportionate 
to their A^alue and importance, just as the ideal of a phj^si- 
cal education is a complete body in which all the organs 
are harmoniously developed and all the functions regu- 
larly co-operate in the maintenance of life. 

"The principal rule," says Kant, "is to cultivate no faculty 
solely for itself, but to cultivate each in view of the others ; for 
example, the imagination for the sake of the intelligence." 

Just as in the soul, as a whole, the seusibilit}' and the 
will ought to be neither sacrificed nor preferred to the 
intelligence, so in the intelligence itself no aptitude ought 
to be neglected, no one ought to be the object of a privi- 
leged culture. 

53. The Faculties should lend one another mutual 
Support. — The harmony of the faculties so nicely con- 
forms to the intent of nature, and so to the purpose of 
education, that these different faculties are mutually helpful, 
and it is almost impossible to develop one without at the 
same time preparing for the development of the others. 
Nicole had called attention to this fact. 

"Instruction," he said, "gives neither inemory, imagination, 
nor intelligence, but it cultivates all these elements by strength- 
ening one through another. We aid the judgment by memory, 
and we relieve the memory by imagination and judgment." ^ 

It is only in minds badly trained that the different 
1 Be VEducation d'un prince, p. 35. 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 63. 

faculties come into collision and manifest, so to speak, 
anarchical tendencies. A sound mind is a real organism, 
in which everything has its own place, but in which all 
things work together towards the same end. 

54. General Characteristics of Intellectual Evolu- 
tion. — From all that has preceded it follows that the 
point of departure in intellectual education is the unequal 
march, the progressive evolution, of the different faculties, 
and that the term, the aim, is the development — I do 
not say equal, but proportionate and normal — of these 
same faculties. We now see where we are going and 
whence we set out. 

But by what routes shall we go? According to what 
general principles ought the educator to govern his con- 
duct? It is not sufficient to say tliat education as a 
whole will confonn to the order of nature. Nature, in fact, 
is a grand and vague word, which educators and moral- 
ists interpret just as it pleases them, and under cover of 
which they give currency to the most various and often 
to the most singular conceptions. 

Witliout entering into the details of method, which shall 
be the purpose of the chapters composing the second 
part of this work, it is proper to determine at this point 
some of the laws of intellectual evolution and the educa- 
tional results which flow from them. 

55. The Mind is not a Vase to be filled, but a Fire 
that is to be made to glow. — The mind is not a tabxda 
rasa, a blank page, on which we have but to write, a 
simple receptacle which it sutlices to fill just as we fill a 
measure with grain ; but it is an aggregate of germs wliich 
aspire to develop themselves. 

How many times have teachers transgressed this psy- 



64 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

chological law ! Do we not violate it every day when our 
chief concern is to cram the mind of the child, to accu- 
mulate a mass of knowledge, at the risk of smothering 
the intelligence, which we siiould only arouse and excite? 
The overcrowding of modern programmes is increasing from 
day to day, to the great detriment of intellectual liberty. 
Even supposing that the mind is at birth a vase ready 
made, it would still be an insoluble problem to propose 
to have contained in a vase of invariable dimensions ten, 
twenty, or a hundred times as much matter. But besides, 
it is not the purpose of education to produce prodigies 
of memory, erudites capable of discussing whatever is 
knowable. 

" The purpose of study," says Greard, " is above all else to 
create the instrument of intellectual labor, to make the judg- 
ment surer ; and for this purpose it is not necessary to teach all 
that it is possible to know, but that of which it is not permis- 
sible to be ignorant." ^ 

Then let us renounce the pretensions of those who would 
have the human intelligence the resume of universal knowl- 
edge. Let us no longer admire feats of strength like those 
mentioned by Dupauloup. 

" One pupil recited the whole of the Telemaque, another re- 
cited a grammatical analysis which contained more than sixty 
tliousand Greek and French words." 

Let us return to the old maxim, Non multa, sed multum. 
It is better to know a few things thoroughly than to know 
all things superficially. 

56. Respect for the Liberty and the Voluntary Ef- 
fort OF the Child. — The teachers who still believe that 

1 M^moire sur la question des programmes dans I'enseignement se- 
condalre, 1884. 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 65 

the mind is an inert, passive capacity, of course have no 
regard for the liberty of the child ; there is no occasion 
for respecting powers whose existence is not admitted. B«t 
all those who believe that nature has planted in the in- 
telligence vital principles, which await only a favorable 
occasion and a proper stimulus to awaken and expand, 
feel on the contrary the need of not hampering and not 
opposing the natural evolution of the mind. 

Allow the child who is beginning to think the largest 
liberty possible. Do not bend his intelligence to artificial 
forms ; do not compel him to endure by force too many 
didactic lessons ; do not impose on him a diet which he is 
not capable of digesting. 

" When men," says Mr. Spencer, " received their creed and its 
interpretations from an infallible authority deigning no expla- 
nations, it was natural that the teaching of children should be 
dogmatic. While 'believe and ask no questions' was the maxim 
of the church, it was fitly the maxim of the school. Conversely 
now that Protestantism [Mr. Spencer should add, ' and philoso- 
phy'] has gained for adults a right of private judgment, and 
established the practice of appealing to reason, there is harmony 
in the change that has made juvenile instruction a process of 
exposition addressed to the understanding." ^ 

57. We must know how not to be in haste. — "The 
most useful rule of all education," said Rousseau, " is not 
to gain time, but to lose it." Under the form of a paradox, 
this was saying that it is not wise to make haste, and 
that education ought to act upon the frail and delicate 
intelligence of the child with a slowness copied from nature. 

" Let us protect ourselves," says Madame Pape-Carpantier to the 
same effect, " against that unthinking zeal, or that culpable vanity, 
which would exact from the child all that his elastic intelligence 

1 Education, p. 97. 



66 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

can produce, at the risk of exhausting it, at the risk of destroying 
the fruit in the flower." 

58. Attractive Lahor. — It is a truth now generally 
admitted that there are no studies really profitable, save 
those which respond to the needs of the intelligence, and 
there provoke an agreeable excitation. Herbert Spencer ear- 
nestly recommends that the tastes of the child shall be taken 
into account. "Work," says Greard, " being but the devel- 
opment of natural activity, the exercise of that activity 
ought certainly to make the child happy." 

The pleasure which the child feels is in fact the sign 
that his mind is developing with ease, that he is assimilating 
the knowledge which has been presented to him. On the 
other hand, his repugnances, his indolence, and his inertia 
prove that the instruction which displeases him has been 
presented at too early a period, or has been presented in a 
bad way.^ 

1 Following Mr. Spencer, M. Corapayre assigns two reasons why 
studies may be disagreeable to a child : (1) They may be unseasonable 
or (2) they may be badly presented. There is still another reason: 
they may involve a mode of mental activity which has not yet been 
developed so fully as to proceed with facility, and hence with pleasure. 
Under the most favorable circumstances, the beginning of a new 
subject will often be unpleasant, because the mind has not yet become 
accustomed to this new mode of exercise. If we regard symmetry 
and harmony of development as one aim of education, a pupil's dislike 
of a study may indicate that he ought to pursue it. 

It should be added also that a study will grow tedious when the 
mental activity it involves reaches the fatigue-point. In a word, the 
same rules may be applied to mental as to physical activity. In 
both cases free and spontaneous activity is agreeable ; activity that 
is constrained, or that reaches the fatigue-point, is tedious or disa- 
CTeeable. But these last condilions are often inevitable, and are even 
desirable, for robustness, power, and manliness can be attained in 
ji ) otiier way. In a larger sense, there is no discipline like a noble 
.•xiriow. (P.) 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 67 

Pleasure, then, is not a thing to be despised in instruc- 
tion ; it will give to the faculties au unusual animation. 
And it is not necessary, in order to make the child happy in 
his work, to attempt to enliven instruction hy amusements 
which impair its character. It is sufficient to follow a 
proper order, one adapted to the powers of the child. 
Mental activity is agreeable in itself. 

" Where young people are taught as they ought to be, they 
are quite as happy in school as at play, seldom less delighted — 
nay, often more — with the well-directed exercise of tlieir mental 
energies, than with that of their physical powers." ^ 

59. Necessity of Effort. — ^ But the legitimate desire to 
make study agreeable, to sweeten the toil of the child, 
ought not to make us forget the necessity of effort. Let us 
not 3'ield to the temptation of saying, with Fcnelou, " every- 
thing should be done with pleasure." According to the 
amiable author of the Education des Jilles, everything should 
be learned while playing. This is neither possible nor desir- 
able. Let us avoid whatever is repulsive, but let us not go 
so far as to proscribe what is laborious. 

" School is a forced culture," says Kant. " We should accustom 

the child to work It is to render him a very poor service 

to accustom him to regard everything as play 

''Whatever is done to make study agreeable," says Rousseau, 
" will prevent children from profiting by it And so Ma- 
dame de Stael says : ' The education that takes place by amusing 
one's self dissipates thought. Pain of every kind is one of the 
greatest secrets of nature, and the mind of the child ought to 
accustom itself to studious efforts, just as our soul should be 
accustomed to suffering.' " 

" Asceticism is disappearing out of education, as out of 
life," Mr. Spencer has said, in his brilliant way. Yes ; but 

^ Professor Pillaus, quoted by Herbert Spencer, Education, p. 159. 



68 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

for the old-time asceticism there must not be substituted a 
sort of pedagogic epicureanism, distinguished by instruction 
which is amusing as well as by discipline which is lax. 

Pain ought not to be purposely proscribed in education. 
It awakens new ideas in the soul ; it stirs the mind to 
depths scarcely suspected before the suffering came. No 
stimulus is equal to that of pain, for liberating the human 
personality from the disguises which envelop it. 

" Man is an apprentice ; pain is his master ! " 

60. The Inner Development of the Mind. — The idea 
of an inner and spontaneous development of the mind is 
not a new thing in pedagogy. 

"Properly speaking," says Nicole, "it is not the teacher nor 
outside instruction, which causes things to be comprehended ; 
they do nothing more than expose tliem to the interior light of 
the mind, by which alone they are comprehended ; so that when 
there is not tlie concurrence of this light, instruction is to no 
more purpose than as though one were to exhibit pictures in 
the night." 

In fact, in an education properly administered, it is of 
less importance to assure the superficial instruction, the 
exterior culture and adornment of the mind, than to 
secure its inner and profound development. "To instruct 
a child," said Madame Necker de Saussure, pithily, "is 
to construct liim from within." 

Let us, then, reject all methods of instruction which, like 
those of the Jesuits, leave inactive the inner forces of the 
soul. To find for the mind occupations which absorb it, 
which lull it like a dream, without wholly awakeuing it ; to 
call attention to words, to niceties of speech, to the trivial 
facts of history, so as to reduce by so much the opportunity 
for thinking ; to provoke a certain degree of intellectual 
activity, prudently arrested at the point where reflective 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 69 

reason succeeds a garnished memory; — in a word, to stir 
the mind from without just enough to rescue it from its 
natural ignorance, but not enough to make it really act 
for itself by a manly display of all its faculties, — such was 
the method of the Jesuits. It is good for nothing but to 
make grown-up children, not men. 

61. Means to be Employed. — It is not our purpose in 
this place to enter upon details of method ; this is a subject 
which we shall resume further on (see Part Second). Let 
us merely illustrate, by a few quotations, the extent to which 
modern educators, particularly American educators, are pre- 
occupied with the inner activity of the mind. 

" The teacher should never do for the child what it can do for 
itself. It is the child's own activity that will give strength to its 
powers and increase the capacity of the mind. The teacher must 
avoid telling too much or aiding the child too frequently. A mere 
hint or suggestive question, to lead the mind in the proper direc- 
tion, is worth much more than direct assistance, for it not only 
gives activity and consequently mental development, but culti- 
vates the power of original investigation." ^ 

Mr. Wickersham, another American educator, proceeds in 
the same vein : 

" The condition of the learner should not be one of passive 
reception, but of earnest self-exertion. One trial of strength 
should induce other trials ; one difficulty overcome should ex- 
cite an ambition to triumph over other difficulties. The teacher 
should create interest in study, incite curiosity, promote inquiry, 
prompt investigation, inspire self-confidence, give hints, make 
suggestions, tempt pupils on to try their strength and test 
their skill." ^ 

Mr. Wickersham continues by citing the example of a bird 
teaching her young ones to fly. 

1 Edward Brooks, Normal Methods of Teaching, pp. 21, 22. 

2 Wickersham, op. clt, pp. 23, 24. 



70 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" One of my best lessons in teaching was taught me by a 
robin. It was in my garden^ and the mother-robin was teacliing 
her young brood to fly. A little robin sat upon the nest and 
seemed afraid to move. The mother-bird came and stood by its 
side, stroked it with her bill, and then hopped to a neighboring 
twig and stood awhile, as if to mduce the little bird to follow. 
Again and again she repeated her caresses, and then hopped 
nimbly to the same twig. At length the little bird gained 
courage, and to the great joy of its mother shook its weak 
wings, started, and stood by her side. Another more distant 
twig was now selected, and further effort brought the little bird 
to it also. And so the process was repeated many times, until 
the timid fledgling, now grown quite bold, could sail away with 
its mother over woodlands, fields, and meadows." 

Under a pleasing form the above is a paraphrase of this 

thought of Froebel : ' ' Let teachers not lose sight of this 

truth : Always and at the same time they must give and 
take, precede and follow, act and let act." 

62. Intellectual Inequalities. — In spite of Jacotot's 
paradox, "All intelligences are equal," it is certain that pro- 
found differences separate minds in theii' native constitution, 
and that these intellectual inequalities do not all come from 
the fact that we do not all have the same tastes and the 
same will. The teacher should know how to take into ac- 
count this diversity of faculties, and should recall the maxim 
of Locke, "Thei'e are perhaps no two children who can be 
brought up by exactly the same methods," 

However, do not let us push the significance of these 
observations too far. Do not let us diversify intellectual 
education without limit. While pa3^ing regard to natural 
inequalities for the purpose of correcting them, and to 
special aptitudes for the purpose of favoring them, let us 
not forget that we must propose to all pupils the same aim, 
and that, in general, it is possible to lead them to it. As 



INTELLECTUAL EDUCATION. 71 

Madame Guizot said, "Save in some special and rare eases, 
we are all made for everything. . . . We must not so de- 
vote our faculties to one special line of action as to become 
unfitted for every other." ^ 

63. Special Aptitudes. — It is not best, then, to follow 
the current of nature with absolute compliance, and when a 
child gives evidence of particular dispositions, to fall in, so 
to speak, with his predilections, and to devote him by prefer- 
ence to the things for which he has a marked aptitude. On 
this point it seems to us that Nicole is lacking in wisdom 
and moderation. 

" There are children," he said, " who should be busied with 
scarcely anything except what depends on the memory, because 
they have a prompt memory and a weak judgment; and there 
are others who should devote themselves to the things that de- 
pend on the judgment, because they have more judgment than 
memory." "^ 

No ; without asserting that education ought to cast all 
minds in the same mould, nor that we should try to bring all 
intelligences up to the same level, let us not renounce the 
purpose to have them pursue a common ideal. For guarding 
the personality of each pupil, and for assuring sufficient 
liberty to his particular dispositions, we have done enough 
when, for the old tyrannical and oppressive methods, we 
have substituted the new methods, which appeal to the 
spontaneity and the voluntary effort of the child. 

64. Intellectual Education itself should have a 
Practical Aim. — Even in our day we too often forget the 
old Latin adage, Vitce, non scholce^ discitur (It is for life, 

1 Lettres de famille stir V education, p. 77. 

2 Nicole, De VEducation d'un prince, p. 35. 



72 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY, 

not for school, that instructiou is given). Preparation for 
hfe, — such is the true definition of instruction, especially of 
common-school instruction. It is not a grammarian, it is 
not a logician, as Montaigne says,^ but a man that is to be 
trained. Then let us not demand that intellectual education 
should develop the brilliant faculties whose purpose is mental 
adornment, the faculties which serve for display, serviceable 
to men of leisure, but not adapted to the humble and labori- 
ous condition of the common people. What is needed is a 
manly training of the useful faculties, those of which it may 
be said that they are arms for the battle of life. Doubtless 
the common school is not a technical or professional school, 
but it ought to be a practical school. "The end of educa- 
tion," justly remarks an American writer, "is not to teach 
pupils to know and use books, but to know and make right 
use of themselves."" 

1 See Compayre's IHstorij of Pedagogy, p. 103. 

2 Baldwin, op. cit., p. 313. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 

65. The Beginning of Intelligence. — He who would 
know in its completeness the nature of the intelligence 
should study the child l)eside his cradle. 

At first he is but a little, inert mass, that awakens only to 
cling to his mother's breast or to weep ; and yet in that 
body still so frail there slumber the germs of a comi)lete 
moral personality. Upon contact with the exterior world 
all these germs will expand, all that latent life will awake, 
all that is potential will become active. It seems as though 
an invisible hand were pouring, drop by drop, into that deli- 
cate and fragile vase, soul and intelligence. 

In a few days a smile will come to animate the lips of the 
infant ; movements more and more characteristic will give 
evidence of his vitality ; they will express either his instincts 
or simpl}^ his general need of activity. Finally, at the end of 
a few months, a sort of prattling — feeble cries indefinitely 
repeated — shows that this feeble child already has some 
glimmers of intelligence, and that he wishes to communicate 
them. 

We have often heard of the slowness with which nature 
proceeds in organizing the faculties of the child. I confess 
that it is rather the contrary that impresses me. When we 
think of the origin of the child, that only a few months ago 
he had no formal existence, how can we fail to be astonished 
at that prodigy which is renewed every day, and which gives 

73 



74 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

rise in so brief a time to a new being, nearly similar in 
everything, except stature, to the authors of his life? Espe- 
cially how can we fail to admire the intellectual progress 
which, through the acquisitions of the senses, is accom- 
plished within a few years ? ' ' The period in which the 
child has no teacher," says Egger, "is perhaps that in 
which he learns most and most rapidly. Let one compare 
the number of ideas acquired between birth and the age of 
five or six, with those which he acquires in the years follow- 
ing, and he will be astonished at this great precocit}'." ^ 

66. Seksations and Perceptions. — We assume to be 
known whatever psychology and physiology teach of the 
organs and the functions of the five senses, — seeing, 
hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting. Let us dwell only 
on what it is important for the educator to know, if he 
would proceed successfully in the education of the senses. 

The sensations peculiar to the five senses are not merely 
affective perceptions, — that is, sources of pleasure or of 
pain, — but they are also representative perceptions, that 
is, the sources of images, of ideas, and of knowledges.'^ 
While the interior sensationSf those which accompany' the 
play of the organic functions, teach us nothing of the 
nature of the organs where they are developed, the exterior 
sensations inform us of the qualities of the objects which 
produce them, and those objects themselves. 

From the earliest years of life perception is quite readily 
disengaged from sensation, and the perception is already 
knowledge, — it consists essentially in distinguishing the 
difference between objects. 

"Mind," says Mr. Bain, "starts from discrimination. The con- 

1 Egger, Observations sur le de'velojipment de I'intelligence, 1879. 

2 Kousseau was wrong in saying, " The first sensations of children 
are purely affective: they perceive only pleasure and pain." 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 75 

sciousness of difference is the beginning of every intellectual exer- 
cise." ^ 

And at the same time that the mind, through successive 
perceptions, discriminates objects from one another, it soon 
comes to discriminate itself from these objects. Self- 
consciousness, the inner sense, is inseparable from the 
development of the external senses. 

67. Importance of Sense-Intuitions. — The notions fur- 
nished by the senses are one of the essential elements of 
the human intelligence. It were an error to think thQ,t the 
senses do not give us ideas. " Before the age of reason," 
said Rousseau wrongly, "■ the child does not receive ideas, 
but images." From the fact of being sensible, the represen- 
tations of sight and of hearing are none the less ideas. 

Doubtless the consciousness, applied to the intei'ior modi- 
fications of the self, is a fruitful source of knowledge ; but 
how much richer and vaster is the domain of exterior per- 
ception ! 

Our abstract and general ideas themselves are but the 
derivatives of a mental effort which compares, separates, 
and unites the concrete data of the senses. 

Doubtless it is no longer necessary to make of the senses 
the only source of intellect, as Locke, Condillac, and Come- 
nius also taught.'^ 

The mind has its own constitution and its necessary laws ; 
natural or acquired, innate or hereditary, reason exists prior 
to the senses and governs their exercise ; as, for example, 
when it obliges us to admit an external reality, the cause 
and basis of sensible representations. 

1 Alexander Bain, Education as a Science, p. 15. 

2 " It is certain," says Comenius, in the preface to the Orbis Pictus, 
" that there is nothing in the understanding which had not before been 
in the senses." 



76 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

But, nevertheless, the senses are the origin of the most of 
our knowledge ; they enrich the mind with a multitude of 
notions. It suffices, to judge of their importance, to see to 
what a wretched condition is reduced the intelligence of the 
unfortunates who have l)een deprived of several, or even of 
a single one, of their senses. The mind is not, as certain 
philosophers have supposed, a force wliich is self-sufficing ; 
it has need of nourishing itself from without, through an 
incessant communication with nature ; in a word, it is, in 
large measure, but the conscious echo of an external 
world. 

68. General Culture of the Senses. — The senses are 
in great part organized and formed by nature. A natural 
evolution carries forward each of them to its point of normal 
perfection. There is, however, for the faculties of sense- 
perception, as for all the others, an education proper, a real 
culture, which alone can secure to the senses all the pre- 
cision, all the delicacy, of which they are susceptible. 

The starting-point in this education of the senses depends 
upon physiology and hygiene. The integrity and the health 
of the organs must be protected. In the education of the 
vision, for example, the first duty belongs to the oculist. 
The senses are the instruments, the material tools, which 
must be kept clean, strong, and iu a normal condition. But 
nature presents, in the case of a great number of individuals, 
grave imperfections which ought to be corrected so far as 
this is possible, and corrected at first by physical means. 
Some are near-sighted, some have imperfect vision, some 
are color-blind ; some ai-e hard of hearing, and some almost 
deaf. For these difficulties medicine and hygiene offer rem- 
edies, or at least palliatives. 

Sometimes an infirmity of the senses is caused, not by 
a defect in the special construction of the organ, but by a 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 77 

general weakness of the constitution. By fortifying the 
whole body and the general health, we assure the health 
and vigor of the organs of sense-perception. Finally, edu- 
cation, from this first point of view, ought carefully to avoid 
all the material causes of the enfeebling of the senses, — 
bad conditions of lighting, for example, — which might in- 
jure the natural and normal sensibility of vision. 

But all has not been done when we have provided, thi'ough 
hygiene, for the health of the organs of sense. It is much 
to have good tools at our disposal, but this is not enough ; 
we must know how to use them. Like all the faculties, the 
senses are perfectible. Between what they are naturally, 
and what they can become by a methodic and regular cul- 
ture, there is a considerable margin. Exercise is the great 
secret of this education of the senses. It is by practice that 
the painter and the musician, the artisan and the artist, 
learn to see and to hear with a degree of accuracy and power 
to which the untaught do not attain. We know what mar- 
vellous power is attained by the hearing of savages and 
huntsmen, the touch of the blind, and the sight of sailors. 
Laura Bridgman, deaf, dumb, and blind, has succeeded 
through touch alone in distinguishing the colors of the dif- 
ferent balls of yarn or of silk which she employs in her 
sewing and embroidery. 

Finally, we must recollect that the senses are mutually 
complementary. Touch corrects the illusions of sight and 
extends its sphere. Sight illumines and guides the hearing. 
Besides these individual and special perceptions, natural 
perceptions, as the psychologists say, each sense has its 
acquired perceptions., which it owes in part to the co-opera- 
tion of the other senses. Hence, again, the educator has a 
new occasion for intervention, for the purpose of aiding the 
senses in mutually controlling and correcting themselves, 
and in becoming by their accord the admirable and infallible 
instrument for acquiring a knowledge of the material world. 



78 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

69. Opinion of Rousseau. — Rousseau is the first who 
understood the importauce of tlie education of the senses. 

" A child," he says, " is not so tall as a man ; he has neither 
his strength nor his reason, but he sees and hears as well as he, 
or nearly as well. . . . The first faculties which are formed and 
perfected in us are the senses. These are the first that should 
be cultivated; they are the only ones tliat are forgotten, or that 
are most neglected. 

" To exercise the senses is not merely to make use of them, 
but it is to learn to judge correctly by them ; it is to learn, so 
to speak, to feel, for we can neither touch, nor see, nor hear, 
except as we have been taught." 

What pleases us particularly in Rousseau's thought is that 
he does not consider the senses simply as instruments for 
perfecting the mind ; but he studies them in themselves and 
seeks the means of training them. It is not merely the ed- 
ucation of the mind through the senses which concerns him, 
but above all the education of the senses themselves. 

70. Methods of Pestalozzi and Froebel. — To Rousseau 
belongs the merit of having recommended theoretically the 
education of the senses, but to Pestalozzi and to Froebel be- 
longs the honor of having put it in practice, of having intro- 
duced it into the domain of school work. 

According to Pestalozzi, the point of departure in all 
intellectual education is to be found in the sensations. It 
was through things themselves that he wished to develop the 
intelligence of his pupils. It was not enough for him to 
have the objects seen, but they must be touched also ; the 
child turned them about in all directions, until he had 
perfectly caught their form and observed their qualities. 
Pestalozzi went still further ; he obliged the child to weigh, 
measure, and analyze the material things which he had taken 
into his hands, and at the same time he drilled the pupil in 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 79 

naming, in designating by the proper word, the qualities, 
the relations, the dimensions which his sight or his hand 
had distinguished in the objects. "See and name," was 
the principle of his elementary method of instruction. 

It is in the same spirit that Froebel successively developed 
before the eyes of the child the marvels of the six gifts ; that 
he first exhibited to the sight concrete objects, such as balls 
of colored wool and geometrical solids ; and that he taught 
him to distinguish their contents, form, and material, "in 
such a way," says Greard, "as to accustom him to see, — 
that is, to seize the appearance, form, resemblances, differ- 
ences, and relations of things." 

71. The Special Education of each Sense. — Madame 
Necker de Saussure is not wholly right when she requires 
that the child shall carry forward the training of the five 
senses simultaneously. In fact, some of the senses are 
more precocious, and others more tardy, in their develop- 
ment ; and, besides, the senses are of unequal importance, 
and, not rendering the same services, do not deserve the 
same attention. Finally, each of them has its own condi- 
tions and its own laws. Hence the educator needs to study 
them one after another and to cultivate them separately, 
without, however, losing sight of their mutual relations. 

72. Smell and Taste. — Smell is perhaps the one of all 
the senses that is developed latest. Rousseau is right in 
claiming that children remain for a long time insensible to 
good and bad odors. Moreover, we can scarcely understand 
why smell is called "the sense of the imagination," on the 
pretext that odors and perfumes often recall memories 
which have long been slumbering. 

Taste, on the contrary, just because it responds to the 
essential need of infant life, alimentation, — taste is very 



80 THEOEETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

early developed. Sensations of taste would be the first, 
were they not preceded by vague tactile sensations. The 
infant at once recognizes the sweetish taste of milk. If 
he is offered water, or milk but slightly sweetened, he 
rejects it. He refers everything to the sense of taste, and 
carries all objects to his mouth. 

Smell and taste are both inferior senses which have 
scarcely any connection with the intellectual life. They 
furnish us sensations ratlier than perceptions. The}' are the 
agents of the physical life and of the digestive functions. 
They put us on guard against certain dangers. They in- 
struct us concerning aliments and liquors. They are the 
sources of pleasures and pains, rather than of knowledges 
and ideas. By their tendency towards excesses, by their 
unhealthy stimulus, they may contribute towards developing 
and nourishing evil appetites, such as gluttony and drunk- 
enness ; but the part they play in the life of the spirit is 
mediocre, if not wholly null. 

They fall, then, chiefly under the cognizance of moral 
education, which must undertake to restrain them, to mod- 
erate then' excesses, and to repress their caprices, their 
daintiness, their excessive and violent preferences. 

" Let the diet of the child," says Rousseau, " be plain and simple ; 
let his palate be made familiar only with moderate savors, and 
let him contract no exclusive taste." " The abuse of odoi's and 
perfumes," says Bernard Perez, " enervates the body and enfeebles 
the will. I would not have a bouquet in the infant's chamber, 
or perfumes in his baths, on his hair, or upon his garments. 
However, I would have him very sensitive to the sweet odors of 
flowers." 1 

Taste and smell may, however, render some services to 
the intelligence. The chemist recognizes a body by its 

1 Bernard Pe'rez, L'dlucatlon des le hercGau, p. 49. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 81 

characteristic odor ; he distinguishes sulistauces as sapid 
aud insipid. The taster recognizes tlie vintage and the age 
of wines simply from the impression which they produce 
on his pahite. There is, then, some interest, from the intel- 
lectual point of view, in training even the senses of smell 
and taste, in rendering them more clever in discerning 
shades of sensible impressions. 

73. Education of the Sekse of Hearing. — The per- 
ceptions of hearing have a wholly different importance. 
Hearing makes us acquainted with isound and tlie different 
qualities of sound, — acuteness, gravity, intensity, volume, 
timbre. In this way hearing brings us into relation with a 
multitude of objects. But what is especially to be noted is 
that hearing is particularly the social sense, since by means 
of it we hear the voice of our fellows and know their 
thoughts. Hearing is also an artistic sense, since it makes 
possible music, the most popular, the most insinuating of 
all the arts. 

The hearing is often defective. " The number of children 
who have imperfect hearing is much greater than is com- 
monly supposed."^ 

In many cases the only cause of this weakness is the 
uncleanliness of the ears, and can easily be corrected ; but 
iu other cases there is a natural and organic infirmity, — the 
child confounds certain syllables and certain words with 
words and syllables of simihTr assonance. With pupils thus 
poorly endowed the teacher ought to be particularly indul- 
gent. He ought to bring them as near to himself as possilile 
in the class-room, and should oblige himself and all their 
companions always to speak very distinctly. 

The natural education of the hearing is relatively rapid. 

1 See the Eapport of Jacoulet, ah-eady mentioned. 



82 THEOEETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

The infant hears from the first day of its life. " On the 
tliirty-sixth da}^," says M. Cuiguet, "the child that I am 
observing as yet recognizes no one with his eyes, no matter 
who takes him or who walks with him ; Init he recognizes 
his mother by her voice." ^ The slightest sound makes the 
babe tremble in its cradle. 

But what is slower and more delicate is the musical edu- 
cation of the hearing. At first all noises please the child. 
He loves noise for the sake of noise. In the matter of 
music he is no harder to please than animals, apes, and 
bees. It seems that his acoustic sense finds pleasure simply 
in being excited, in whatever way it may be. The more 
he is stunned, and the more he stuns others, the happier he 
seems. The culture of the musical sense is then a necessity, 
particularly to-day when singing has become a part of edu- 
cation, and because inaptitude in singing is the result of a 
defective culture of the hearing. 

In general, in the education of the hearing, we should be 
guided by the following rules : — 

" For the hearing, as for all the other senses, moderation is 
indispensable if we would preserve its integrity and its sensibil- 
ity. We become accustomed to noise, it is true ; but its effect 
is none the less pernicious. On the other hand, the complete ab- 
sence of noise gives to the hearing an unliealthy sensibility, like 
that contracted by the sight of persons who have long been de- 
prived of light." 2 

74. Education of the Touch. — The general sensations 
of touch are very early developed, because the entire body is 
its organ. At a very early period the infant shows that it is 
sensible to hard and rough contacts, to slight pressures, and 
that it suffers from them. A sensation of contact which 

1 M. Cuignet, Annales d'oculistique, Tome LXVL, p. 117. 

2 Dr. Saffray, Dictionnaire de pe'dagogie, art Oitie. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 83 

would be indifferent to an adult makes it scowl or cry, and 
the touch of a warm aud caressing hand causes it a very 
lively pleasure. 

But we must distinguisli the primitive sensation, wholl}'^ 
passive, of touch in general, from the active sensation 
whose essential organ is the hand. The infant first feels 
with the lips. As to the hand, it learns rather slowly to 
make use of it. For many months it notices objects without 
making an attempt to grasp them. 

" It is easy," says Madame de Saussure, " to observe the 
gropings of experience in the manner in wliicli the infant learns 
to make use of touch. This sense is slow in obeying the orders 
of the will. Tt is obliged, in some sort, to receive the stinmlus 
of the sense of sight, whose education it in turn perfects." 

75. The Child's Power of Sight. — At the age of 
three or four years the child already astonishes us by the 
admirable precision of his sight, by the ease and deftness of 
his vision. It seems that he has looked at nothing, and yet 
he has seen everything. 

The mature man, and even the 3'oung man, preoccupied 
with thought or with inner emotion, often looks only with 
distraction upon things without ; but the child, free from 
after- thoughts, eager and curious, in the freshness and 
power of his nascent faculties lets nothing escape him of all 
that is presented by the shifting scenes of reality ; we might 
say that his whole soul is in his eyes. A clever observer of 
children, M. Legouve, has called attention to this in a 
humorous vein : — 

" The child is all eyes. He has an incomparable power of 
visioii. Compared witli him, we are blind. Take j-our son with 
you into a chamber, a workshop, or a palace, and on coming 
out interrogate him. You will be amazed at all he has seen. 
At a single glance he has made an inventory of the fm-nitm-e. 



84 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the walls, the objects useful an<l oruaiiieutal. A professional 
could not have done this so quickly. All children are born 
appraisers." ^ 

70. Natural Development of the Sense of Sioht. — 
But the child does not acquire this marvellous perspicacity of 
visiou all at once. The sense of sight does not escape the 
law of natural education and of progressive development 
which presides over the organization of all the faculties. 
The eye learns to see, just as the tongue learns to speak and 
the legs to walk. 

It would doubtless be an exaggeration to say that the 
infant at the moment of birth is but a little blind creature ; 
but the truth is that if he sees enough at the first to be hurt 
by the light, he does not see enough to distinguish objects. 

During the first days of his life the child is afraid of the 
light. He is attacked by a sort of na.tnr sd jihotophobia,^ which 
is explained by the delicacy and imperfection of his visual 
organs, and is analogous to the cases of morbid photophobia 
caused by inflammation of the eye or other diseases. Bring a 
candle near a new-born child, and it will close its eyes, or at 
least will squint badly. The eye will conceal itself, so to 
speak, and will shut itself up in the obscure corner of the 
orbit iu order to escape the light. But after a little time all 
is changed ; the infant manifests a marked taste, a sort of 
appetite, for the light. It will sometimes suffice, to cure his 
crying, to place a candle near his cradle. Let it be noted, 
however, that for the babe a few weeks old the light ought 
not to be too intense. That it may be endurable, it should 
be soft and should not dazzle. 

But for some time the child enjoys the light, rather than 
perceives it ; he does not know immediately how to determine 

1 Nos FUles et nos Fils, p. 171. 
a That is, " fear of light." 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 85 

objects. When he is finally in a state to determine them, 
the first stage of progress will be his abilit}' to follow them 
with his sight by a movement of the ball of the eye. A 
second stage of progress is his ability to turn his head, and 
so to prolong his attention. 

But when he has gone so far, the child is not yet in full 
possession of the faculty of sight. Adult vision has a cer- 
tain sweep in breadth ; that is, it embraces a certain field of 
vision to the right and left. Besides, it has a certain range 
in depth ; it grasps objects placed before it at a greater or 
less distance. Now, it is easy to prove that if we observe 
little children their vision has not at once its normal width 
and depth. Little children quickly lose from view the 
objects placed before them ; and, on the other hand, if we 
suddenly change to the right or left the object which they 
are observing, that object escapes their notice. 

In other terms, their field of vision is still very limited, 
both in depth and in breadth. Nature, in this case as in all 
others, proceeds with perfect art, by little increments of 
progress, by insensible developments ; she grants to the 
babe only limited perceptions in harmony with its condition ; 
she does not unfold to it, all at once, the spectacle of the 
visible universe ; she discloses this to him little by little, with 
caution and discretion ; she does not create the senses and 
the faculties at a single stroke, but organizes them little by 
little. 

77. Importance op the Perceptions of Sight. — The 
perceptions of sight are still more rich, still more important, 
than those of hearing and touch. Sight is particularl}' the 
scientific sense ; it is this which reveals to us the color, 
form, and size of objects. What more admirable than this 
"touch at a distance," which permits us to grasp the con- 
tour of the things in the midst of which we live, and which 



86 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

makes it possible for us to penetrate even the ImmensitN' of 
the starry heavens? While we may discuss at great length 
the comparative misfortunes of blindness and deafness, it 
seems undeniable that the blind man is still more unfortunate 
than the one who is deaf, for he is deprived of the siglit of 
the innumerable beauties of the universe ; though the denf 
man is the more sad, because less isolated than the blind 
man, he is the more conscious of his misfortune, feels more 
keenly what he has lost. 

Let us not forget that sight, like hearing, is an aesthetic 
sense, without which we would enjoy neither painting, sculp- 
ture, nor architecture. There are beautiful colors and beau- 
tiful forms, as there are beautiful sounds ; but there are 
neither beautiful odors nor beautiful flavors. In a word, 
beauty seems to be connected only with the senses of siglit 
and hearing. 

78. Education OF THE Sight. — A complete pedagogical 
study of the sense of sight w^^uld comprise a considerable 
number of precepts, some relating to what might be called 
the education of the sight, and others more directly con- 
nected with its instruction. 

The education of the sight consists in whatever gives 
deftness and power to the faculty of seeing. To this end 
the first thing to be done is to treat it carefulW. 

" For the first months," says M. Perez, " the chief care should 
be to protect the sight of the child, to surround with safeguards 
that weak and delicate sense, to shield the eye from impressions 
that are too intense, from glaring light and colors, and to sur- 
round the child and bring him into relations with objects which, 
so far as possible, have a color that is soothing. . . . Neither 
upon the child nor about him should there be anything that is 
gaudy." 

And it is no less necessary to protect the sight from all 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 87 

the circumstances and all the habits which might injure it, 
in order to preserve that power of adaptation and of accom- 
modation which permits the eye to see distinctly objects 
placed at very different distances. On this point heed 
should be paid to all the hygienic recommendations relative 
to the faults in the lighting of school-rooms, to the vicious 
arrangement of seats and desks, to methods of writing in- 
compatible with the proper position of the one who writes, 
to the premature teaching of writing, and to the use of 
books too finely printed. "The sight is wantonly abused," 
says M. Fonssagrives.^ M. Hermann Kohn shows that 
myopia is five times more frequent with the children in 
towns than with those in the country, because the sight of 
the first, restricted to small rooms, cannot acquire the habit 
of extending itself to a distance. 

The Commission on School Hygiene, appointed by decree 
of January 24, 1882, whose reports were published in 1884, 
concludes that myopia in children should be regarded as the 
consequence of a bad posture.'^ "How many cases of ac- 
quired myopia there are," says Madame Pape-Carpantier, 
"and of so-called color-blindness, which are merely the re- 
sult of a confirmed habit of improper seeing in the early 
years of life, and of the absence of all examination with 
respect to colors ! For one real organic defect, there are 
perhaps ten that might have been avoided by the normal use 
of the sense that is to-day perverted." 

79. Instruction op the Sight. — What we call instruc- 
tion of the sight has reference to everything which it can 
be habituated to discern in order to fulfil its office, — first 



1 L' education physique des garcons, p. 18.3. We sliall return to 
these questions of the hygiene of vision in our remarks on the 
teaching of reading and writing. 

2 See the Rapports just referred to. 



88 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

colors, then forms, and finally distances. Contemporary 
educators attach a great importance, perhaps an exaggerated 
importance, to school discipline in the distinction of colors ; 
but what is certainly useful is the rapid and accurate per- 
ception of the form and the position of objects ; that is, 
accuracy of sight. 

In order to acquire this endowment, the child ought to be 
habituated to notice a great number of objects, and to notice 
them in different situations. A graduated series of little 
plays, of little experiments, of excursions directed by the 
teacher, where the pupil's attention shall be called to distant 
objects which are to be reached by gradual approaches ; an 
incessant correction of the sense of sight by the sense of 
touch ; the objects which were first presented to the sight 
being finally placed within the hands of the child, so that he 
may feel and measure them and compare appearances with 
reality, the illusions of sight with the realities of touch, — 
these are some of the precautions recommended by expe- 
rience. 

80. The Reflective Exercise of the Senses. — The 
essential psychological condition for the normal development 
of perception is attention. It is one thing to see, to hear, 
to touch, and another to observe, to listen, to feel. 

Care will then be taken that the child does not use Lis 
senses in a heedless manner. For this purpose it is best not 
to present to him too many objects at one time, or at least 
not to bring before his vision too rapidly too great a succes- 
sion and variety of objects. His mind must be fixed on a 
small number of things, and he must be made to examine 
them under all their aspects ; in a word, his faculty of 
observation must be called into play. 

81. Pedagogical Instruments. — No one has better 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 89 

enforced the worth of the education of the senses than 
Madame Pape-Carpantier : ^ — 

" It is," she says, " the most valuable and the most attractive 
of all the teacher's duties, and some day it will have a place in 
the official programmes." 

And in her enthusiasm she goes so far as to dream of the 
invention of artificial instruments which would be for the edu- 
cation of the senses what books are for the culture of the 
mind. For setting an example she proposes certain pieces 
of apparatus designed to aid pupils in their sensible percep- 
tions, as the movable color-bearer or spectral top, the poly- 
phone, etc. 

For ourselves, we have little confidence in the utility of 
these instruments and machines. On the pretext of serving 
nature we must not supplant her and substitute ourselves for 
her. The real instrument for the development of the senses 
is attentive exercise, observation. 

82. Perception and Observation. — Observation might 
be defined as methodical perception, that prolonged percep- 
tion which the attention directs towards a determined object. 
Seeing (voir) is instinctive and natural vision ; marking 
with the sight {regarder) is attentive and reflective vision ; 
observing is regulated and consecutive vision. 

" A useful book was written with the title, ' How to Observe.' 
These three words might serve as a motto to guide us in the 
most important part of our early education, — a part, unfor- 
tunately, only too much neglected. All the natural sciences are 
particularly valuable, not only as supplying the mind with the 
most rich, various, and beautiful fm-niture, but as teaching peo- 
ple that most useful of all arts, how to use their eyes. It is 
astonishing how much we all go about with our eyes open, and 
yet seeing nothing. This is because the organ of vision, like 

1 Notice sur I'^ducation des sens. Paris, 1878. 



90 THEORETICAL rEDAGOGY. 

other organs, requires training; and by lack of training and the 
slavish dependence on books becomes dull and slow, and ulti- 
mately incapable of exercising its natural function. Let those 
studies, therefore, both in school and college, be regarded as 
primary, that teach young persons to know what they are see- 
ing, and to see what they would otherwise fail to see. Among 
the most useful are Botany, Zoology, INIineralogy, Geology, Chem- 
istry, Architecture, Drawing, and the Fine Arts. How many a 
Highland excursion and Continental tour have been rendered 
comparatively useless to young persons well drilled in their 
books, merely from want of a little elementai-y knowledge in 
these sciences of observation ! " i 

Doubtless the sciences of observation, as their name indi- 
cates, are the best discipline for teaching the art of observa- 
tion ; but long before the child can be initiated into any 
science whatsoever, it is already possible, with respect to 
everything that presents itself to his notice, to habituate 
him to observe, and to cultivate his natural curiosity. 

" The child is born with the desire to observe and to know. 
The interior life being not yet awakened in him, he belongs 
entirely to the phenomena of the exterior world. All his senses 
are on the alert ; all the objects that his sight or his hand en- 
counters attract him, interest him, delight him." ^ 

83. Observation in the Child. — Before being voluntary, 
the observation of the child is, so to speak, unconscious. 
I mean that he observes without willing it, without reflec- 
tion, stimulated by an instinctive curiosity. 

" It is not through caprice that the child is ever reacliing his 
hiuids out towards the objects which are beyond his grasp, and 
weeps when his desires for them are refused. At the age when 
he needs to amass a fund of knowledge, the eyes as yet scarcely 
suffice to inform him of the angles or the contours of these ob- 

1 John Stuart Blackie, On Self-Culture, pp. 2, 3. 

2 M. Gre'ard, op. cit, p. 77. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 91 

jects; he must feel them. . . . The breaking of toys is due to 
the same system of observation. The child has a thirst to know 
by means of what mysterious springs the eyelids of a doll 
close the eyes, how the sheep bleats, how the horse moves. 
This is why, from the dawn of humanity, the child has always 
broken his toys." ^ 

But this natural curiosity, which is exercised upon every- 
thing, may be deliberately managed l)y a skilful teacher, 
and directed to objects which he deems the most useful 
to be known ; so that, while exercising his powers of per- 
ception and observation, the child acquires a stock of neces- 
sary knowledge. 

84. Mr. Spencer's Paradox. — With the habitual temer- 
ity which he carries into his assertions, Mr. Herbert Spen- 
cer declares that success in everything depends upon the 
power of observation ; and he invokes the testimony of 
the naturalist, the physician, the engineer, and the scien- 
tist. Let this be granted ; but in pursuing his line of ar- 
gument he does not stop till he falls into ambiguities. 
"The philosopher," he says, '■'■observes the relations of 
things." It is only through the effort of reflection and 
reason that the philosopher can seize the relations of ob- 
jects and the laws of nature ; and to confound these acts 
with observation is to play upon words. 

Observation is doubtless the starting-point in a great 
number of scientific discoveries, but on the condition that 
it is made fruitful through reflection. It is from within, 
not less than from without, that the formation of mind 
must take place. 

85. Dangers from an Abuse of Sense-Training. — The 

1 Champfleury, Les Enfants, p. 227. 



92 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

importance of the education of the senses must not make ns 
blind to the dangers which the mind would incur from an 
exclusive culture of sense-perception. 

" The sight of scientific phenomena," says M. Greard, " amuses 
children. They would willingly sacrifice everything else to it, — 
arithmetic, history, grammar. This is a clear proof of the val- 
uable aid which can be derived from these demonstrations in 
giving expansion to their opening faculties. Perhaps we may 
also see in this a warning. If it is undoubtedly useful that 
children should find pleasure in examining the forms and ex- 
terior arrangements of objects, in following the decomposition 
and the recomposition of a body, and in observing in its natural 
manifestation in its pictorial representation the play of some 
great law ; it must be confessed that, after a little time, when 
their senses have been corrected, sharpened, amused, and trained, 
this kind of study is for them less a labor than a distraction ; 
it occupies them rather than gives them exercise. We have 
banished ennui ^ from our primary schools. Let us consider 
whether we have not gone a little too far in disnnssing effort 
from them." 

Let us not forget that the mind ought to be something 
else than the fruitful mirror of exterior reality. 

86. Consequences of a Proper Education of the 
Senses. — It must not be inferred that in devoting itself to 
the education of the senses education has in view only the 
formation of an animal of penetrating sight and acute 
hearing, simply capable, like P^mile at the age of twelve, 
of judging of distances, of handling objects, — in a word, of 
recognizing himself in the midst of the obstacles of the 
material world. No ; the education of the senses is the 
necessary preface to the education of the mind. Confusion 
too often glides into the intelligence under cover of incom- 

1 "Enuui, the disease of unfurnished minds." — Bentham. 



THE EDUCATION OF THE SENSES. 93 

plete and defective perceptions. On the contrary, clear and 
distinct perceptions are solid supports for the higher facul- 
ties of the intelligence ; and the clearness of sense-intuitions, 
which are the elements and the materials of all the ultimate 
constructions of the intelligence, illuminates the mind as a 
whole. Without an exact and precise knowledge of the 
visible and tangible properties of objects, our conceptions 
would run the risk of being false, our deductions defective, 
our whole mental effort sterile. The culture of the senses is 
not, then, as Madame Pape-Carpantier has justly observed, 
"a useless pastime, a sort of interlude in serious lessons;" 
but it is a serious lesson in itself, the success of which in- 
terests all the faculties of the mind. 



CHAPTEE V. 

CULTUEE OF THE ATTENTION. 

87. Inner Sense or Consciousness. — We call inner 
sense or consciousness the knowledge which the mind takes 
of itself and of whatever takes place within itself. Con- 
sciousness, like au inward light, illumines and accompanies 
all psychological states, all mental acts. It is thus less a 
distinct faculty than a quality common to all the faculties 
of the mind, whose characteristic is inability to act with- 
out knowing that it acts. In the last analysis it is nothing- 
else than the intelligence knowing itself and knowing all 
that takes place in the exercise of the different mental 
faculties. 

88. Different Degrees of Consciousness. — In the 
child the intelligence or consciousness does not attain 
its full clearness at a single stroke. It passes through 
different stages. Obscure and confused in the mere 
infant, it informs him vaguely of whatever takes place 
within him. Little by little it becomes more clear and 
more distinct ; it connects with the me the phenomena 
that take place within. Finall3^ it acquires its full power 
when, governed by the will, it manifests itself under its 
reflective form. 

It then takes the name of reflection when it applies itself 
to the mind itself, and the name attention when it is du-ected 
to what is outside of us. "The term reflection," says M. 
94 



CULTUKE OF THE ATTENTION. 95 

Janet, "expresses the return of the mind upon itself and 
upon its thought; it is inward attention."^ And so atten- 
tion is outward reflection. 

89. Education of the Consciousness. — The education 
of the consciousness is involved in the education of all the 
faculties. The more we develop the dilferent powers of the 
soul, the more we assure the clearness and the strength of 
the perceptions of consciousness.^ Under its first form, 
consciousness almost wliolly escapes the action of educa- 
tion. It is of itself and through the natural increment of 
its powers that the soul clarifies itself, so to speak, and 
comes to render to itself an account of its acts. The edu- 
cator need not interfere to hasten this natural progress, 
which is due to growth and to age. 

And, once developed, the consciousness does not even 
then permit a special culture. Its power is always measured 
by the degree of force which the different faculties attain. 

However, in that which concerns that part of the con- 
sciousness whose immediate object is the me, and which is 
the basis of the feeling of personality, education has a part 
to play in fortifj^ing psychological reflection and in assuring 
to the human personality the complete possession of itself. 
But, considered in general, consciousness, as we have said, 
is confounded with the intelligence, and the first care of 
the teacher should be ^to assure the progress of the intel- 

1 M. Janet, Cours de Morale. Paris, 1881, p. 65. 

2 In the early development of the spirit we know the part played 
by what contemporary philosoijhers call unconscious impressions, or 
what Leibnitz has called unobserved perceptions. Care should then 
be taken that the child's surroundings be wholesome and pure, and 
that nothing evil glide unnoticed, so to speak, into his soul. Even 
before the awakening of consciousness, there is a negative educa- 
tion which consists in shielding the child fi'om all unwholesome in- 
fluences. 



96 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

ligence by subjecting it to the direction of the will, or, in 
other terms, by rendering it attentive. 

90. Attention and Education. — "The important point," 
said Condillac, "is to make the child compreliend what 
attention is." No; the important point is to teach him to 
he attentive, and the way to succeed in this is, not to explain 
to him the theoretical conditions of attention, but it is to 
know them himself, so as actually to place the pupil in those 
conditions by presenting him objects which are within the 
compass of his ability, and which will excite his interest. 

Nothing can be expected of those languid or too mobile 
spirits whom no study interests, no lesson captivates. On 
the contrary, everything is to be hoped for from an attentive 
intelligence, which can fix itself upon the subjects which it 
.studies. The teacher is sure of success, and instruction 
really begins only on that day when he has held the atten- 
tion of his pupils for a certain number of minutes. If he 
has to do only with inattentive auditors, he renews the toil 
of Sisyphus and pours his knowledge into a barrel without a 
bottom. 

91. Definition of Attention. — Perfect attention, in its 
final form, is the characteristic of an intelligence that is 
self-possessed, self -governed, and that applies itself to 
whatever it will.« In a word, it is the liberty of the spirit. 
The attentive intelligence is not at all at the mercy of ex- 
ternal impressions or of the capricious and involuntary 
suggestions of the memory and the imagination. It volun- 
tarily devotes itself to the objects which it has chosen ; it 
is its own master. 

Attention is not a special faculty ; it is a general mode 
of all our intellectual operations. It associates itself with 
all of them ; with exterior perception, with consciousness, 



CULTURE OF THE ATTENTION. 97 

with imagination, with reasoning, and assures to them their 
maximum of power. Everybody knows the difference be- 
tween seeing and noticing, hearing and understanding, 
touching and feeling. Attentive consciousness is reflection, 
which penetrates with a profounder gaze into the recesses 
of the inner world of sentiments and thoughts. Progressive 
degrees of memory are directly related to progressive degrees 
of the attention ; and the reason is not really firm and strong, 
except when it is reflective, that is to say, attentive. 

92. General Importance of Attention. — It is sufficient 
to have defined attention, in order to judge of its influence 
and its effects. The history of brilliant scientific discoveries 
and of the great works of human art is for the most part but 
the recital of the efforts of the attention. Newton said that 
he had discovered the laws of universal attraction, "by 
always thinking on the subject." Buffon defined genius as 
"a long patience." In more modest degrees, all the results 
of the toil of thinking are direct proofs of the importance of 
attention. 

But there is in some sort a counter-proof ; the infirmities 
of the mind are connected with weakness of the attention. 
The idiot and the imbecile are incapable of fixing then- mind 
upon any given object. The monomaniac is the slave of a 
fixed idea, which wholly absorbs him. The maniac, on the 
contrary, in a single instant pursues a thousand different 
thoughts, powerless to fix his attention upon any one of 
them. In all its degrees, madness is especially an in- 
capacity of being attentive, of controlling one's mind ; the 
intelligence is no longer its own master, — as we say, it 
is alienated. 

Attention, then, is the characteristic of a normal state of 
the intelligence, and, so to speak, the health of the spirit. 
So we need not be astonished that certain philosophers — 



98 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Laromiguiere, for example — have considered attention as 
the basis of all the intellectual faculties. 

93. Attention in the Child. — If this is so, if attention 
is the perfect form of the intelligence, tlie conscious act par 
excellence^ that which implicates the participation of the will 
and the entire personality, it is evident that it cannot mani- 
fest itself all of a sudden in the child, at the age when the 
faculties are in a state of development. 

The child is naturally distracted, and distraction is the 
very opposite of attention. At first the child is the sport 
of the sensations, which come in succession and draw him 
hither and thither. A little further advanced in age, he is 
at every moment turned aside by his imagination, by his 
recollections, by the incoherent ideas which spring forth, 
we do not know how, from his consciousness. His intel- 
ligence is almost as mobile as his body. It is dominated 
by other forces ; it is, so to speak, in tow of the involuntary 
impressions which are ever coming to throw themselves 
across his toil and his studies. To call it back and fix it is 
a serious business. 

So do not let us expect or demand of the child real, abso- 
lute attention. We might as well command immobility on 
a ])ird ; and yet it is necessary as soon as possible to make 
the child attentive, for even the most elementary instruction 
requires this. We must at any cost secure from him that 
effort of attention which is so painful to him, which seems 
so contrary to his nature, that concentration, as the English 
psychologists say, so little consonant with the natural scat- 
tering of his ideas and with the volatile mobility of his 
imagination. 

At first the problem seems insoluble, and if it is not so 
it is because there are certain intermediate degrees which 
nature has provided for, between the state of ordinary inat- 



CULTUKE OF THE ATTENTION. 99 

tention, which is the point of departure, and the habit of 
attention, which is the final term of the series. 

94. Intermediate States. — The powers of the mind are 
not on the start what they will one day be. Sometimes 
even they are totally different in their early stages from 
what they will become later on, and present characteristics 
almost opposite to those which they will manifest in their 
mature and final form. This is the case with attention, 
which may be defined as the voluntary mode of the intel- 
ligence, but which at first is involuntary and irreflective. 

Let one read the chapter whicii M. Perez, an ingenious 
observer of children, has devoted to the early develop- 
ments of the attention, and be will be convinced that the 
attention of the child is but the shadow and the phan- 
tom of real attention.^ In the examples which M. Perez 
has collected, attention is now confounded with an impe- 
rious need, like that of the babe who fixes its gaze upon 
the breast of its nurse ; now with a vivid sensation, like 
that of the infant a month old, who is able to follow for 
three or four minutes the reflected light thrown on a table 
placed near the window ; and even with mobility of im- 
pressions, as in the case of that little girl of three months 
who is represented to us as " attentive to everything that 
was going on about her, to all sorts of sounds, to the 
noise of footsteps in the room." In these different circum- 
stances in which the infant gives proof of attention, "the 
observing subject," M. Perez admits, " seems less to be- 
long to himself than to belong . to the object observed." 
Now this is exactly the opposite of attention. _ Far from 
being exclusively a sensation, or a condescendence of the 
mind to the multiplied impressions of the senses, atten- 

1 M. Perez, Les trots premieres anne'es de I'enfant. 



100 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

tion consists especially in dominating tlie sensations, in 
order to follow voluntaril}' a thought preferred to all others. 
It is not the rebound or the result of an excitation from with- 
out, but it proceeds from an inward effort. As to '•'that 
habit of attention, prompt, capriciously distributed, that 
is, indifferently accorded to CA'crytliing," it is indeed the 
very characteristic of infancy, but it is the very negation 
of attention proper. 

95. The Beginning of Attention. — And yet it is in 
this way, and in this way alone, that attention makes a 
start. There is no other means of cultivating it, in early 
years, than to habituate the child to those vivid, dominat- 
ing impressions which hold and captivate his mind, and 
which are the shadows or images of attention. 

When he has several times fixed his sight on bright col- 
ors and brilliant forms wliich fascinate him, when he has 
turned his ear to the loud voice that controls him and the 
harmonious sounds that charm him, he may be gently in- 
duced to turn his thoughts of his own accord to these ordi- 
nary objects of his contemplation. To the usual excitation 
from without there will gradually respond a voluntary 
movement from within. To involuntary attention there 
will succeed attention resulting from his free will. There 
is no other secret for calling the mind to libert}^ than at 
first to imprison it in continuous and peremptory sensations. 
It is curious to see how, by a natural evolution, by the 
mind's native power, the interior energy will manifest itself ; 
how the will l)y degrees will insinuate itself into the habit 
of imposed labor and of thought held by constraint upon 
the same point. 

96. Imposed Attention. — There is, then, no other ad- 
vice to give the educator, for this early culture of the 



CULTUKE OF THE ATTENTION. 101 

attention, than to impose on the child the prolonged 
examination of a given object. From that state which 
simulates attention there will insensibly issue real attention. 
The best plan will be to place the child in such conditions 
that nothing will excite distractions.^ Put a child who is 
learning to read in a garden witli his primer, and there 
amid the sensations which eddy about him it will be al- 
most impossible to fix his mind. He will be continually 
interrupting his spelling with all sorts of exclamations : 
" There goes a butterfly ! There flies a bird ! " On the 
other hand, place the same child in a room scantily fur- 
nished and somewhat gloomy, where the solicitations of 
sense are rare, proceed in such a way that he sees only 
his book, and you will find that he will repeat his 
lesson with but little resistance. Without doubt you 
have not to do, in this case, with a mind truly attentive, 
making a voluntary effort to follow a given direction ; 
but you have before you only a passive being, whom you 
hold by artificial means, subject to a single sensation, 
that of the syllable which you are causing him to spell, 
and who will escape from you on the first occasion, to 
become the slave of a new sensation. But in that species 
of subjection in which he is held by a single impression 
to the exclusion of all others, the mind is gradually strength- 
ened. He will lose the habit of dissipation and mobility ; 
he will devote himself more and more, and with an ever- 
growing alacrity, to the objects of study which you pro- 
pose to him. After having allowed himself to be con- 
strained, he will finally consent to it ; he will give his 
attention until at last he will of his own accord attach 
himself to the objects of study towards which his own 

1 " Cause a calm to reign around tlie infant, so that the impres- 
sions he receives throuj;h the senses may be distinct." (Madame 
Necker de Saussure, T. II., p. 125.) 



102 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

choice draws him. And. even in the attention of the 
mature man there will always remain something of the in- 
voluntary and the enforced, the irresistible attraction of a 
favorite thought, of a study of predilection, of a domi- 
nant taste. 

97. Other Characteristics of the Child's Atten- 
tion. — When the child has grown and has reached the 
school age, we may demand of him some degree of vol- 
untary attention and count on some effort on his part ; 
but how many expedients we must still employ, not to weary 
his nascent attention, but to stimulate it and hold it ! Here 
again we must consult the nature of the child and take 
into account the special characteristics of his mind. To 
each one of these characteristics there will correspond a 
series of pedagogical precepts. 

At first tlie limit of the child's attention is short ; it 
is soon exhausted. Moreover, he voluntarily applies it 
only to sensible objects. Its power is still limited, and 
to fixedness of mind thei'e does not always correspond 
immol)ility of body. Finally, in a general way, the atten- 
tion is weak, and there must be a resort to all sorts of 
stimulants in order to arouse it and keep it at its work. 

98. Short Duration of Attention. — We say nothing 
new in remarking that children are not capable of a long 
intensity of thought. 

" Horace Grant has shown that, beyond from five to ten min- 
utes for young children, and from thirty to forty-five for older 
pupils, the attention is wearied and intellectual effort comes to 
an end." ^ 

Generally the child displays his whole power at the be- 
1 M. Fonssagrives, L'Education physique des gar^ons. Paris, 1870. 



CULTUKE OF THE ATTENTION. 103 

ginning of his task ; but he is soon at the limit of his 
strength, and needs to be occupied with something else, or 
even to have no task on hand, but to refresh himself with 
play or with absolute repose. Be careful, then, to proceed 
gradually. Let the lessons be short at first ; they will grow 
longer in proportion as the pupil's power of attention is 
developed. Also introduce variety into the exercises. 
Change is a rest. As much as possible alternate school 
work with recreation, which, as the etymology of the term 
indicates, truly remakes or creates anew (re-creates) the 
exhausted forces. 

99. Exercise of the Attention through the Senses. — 
The inability of the child to follow abstract ideas is another 
platitude. A sure means of making him inattentive, of 
weakening perhaps for life his power of attention, is to 
teach him too early general truths, rules, formulae, — any- 
thing which repels him because he does not comprehend it 
easily. General ideas have no value for children. In their 
view the only realities are facts. 

M. Egger cites a striking instance of this inability of the 
child to comprehend the abstract : 

" At the age of three and a half years, Emile, who was 
being taught to read the figure 3, the number of a house, re- 
fused to do it ' because there was only one figure there.' 
He could not understand how a single symbol could indicate 
plurality." 

It cannot be too often repeated that at first the child 
can assimilate only knowledge coming through the senses. 
Appeal, then, to the senses, and so far as possible save 
beginners from abstractions. One of the reasons which 
best justify the use of object lessons is that they are 
based directly on this fundamental principle, that it is 
best to exercise the attention on concrete and sensible 
objects before applying it to abstractions. 



104 THEOEETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

100. Exterior Signs of Attention, — Another cliarac- 
teristic of the child's atteiition is that it is rarely accom- 
panied by the exterior signs which announce it in the mature 
man. The thinker who reflects remains motionless, with 
fixed eyes and bowed head. But observe the child who is 
repeating his lesson. It is impossible for him to stand still ; 
his eyes wander to the ceiling, to the right, to the left ; his 
legs, his arms, his whole body, is in motion. I knew a little 
girl who could not learn to read, save on the condition of 
sewing at the same time ; and it was a pleasure to see her 
mechanically drawing her needle with her little fingers, while 
she was at the same time spelling out the words of her 
primer placed on the knees of her mother. In a word, the 
child has need of movement, even when he is studying. In- 
tellectual activity does not suspend his physical activity. 
The attention of which he is capable does not wholly ab- 
sorb him. 

101. Need of Movement. — This being true, it will be 
best to make provision for this need of movement, and not 
to require of the child an absolute immobility. Let us not 
demand of him what is impossible at his age, that during 
the time he spends in school he shall be a thinking statue. 
Let us not require of him the exterior signs of attention, 
provided he be really attentive. 

Let us the rather seek for methods which, while furnishing 
occasion for gratifying his need of physical movement, at 
the same time aid the effort of thinking. The child learns 
to write more easily than to read, because the task of 
writing calls his hand into use, and consequently gives 
him greater pleasure. 

Whatever may be thought of them, the phonomimic proc- 
esses have the advantage of introducing gestures and move- 
ments into the study of the alphabet, and so of breaking 



CULTURE OF THE ATTENTION. 105 

up the immobility which is so unendurable to children. 
One of the merits of Froebel's s^^stem is that it calls into 
exercise at the same time the senses and the instinct to 
movement. 

It would be dangerous, however, to yield too much to the 
physical petulance of the child. The order of the school 
could not easily accommodate pupils ever on the move, 
whose notion would be to learn to read while skipping about 
the room. Moreover, if the child were not guarded in this 
respect, he would be allowed to contract uncomely habits, 
disagreeable tricks. And Miss Edgeworth, who seems, 
however, to have overestimated the extent of this danger, 
writes not without reason, — 

"If a boy could not read without swinging his head like a 
pendulum, we should rather prohibit him from reading for some 
time, than siift'er him to grow up with this ridiculous habit." i 

102. Stimulants of Attention. — "The interest inspired 
by the subject itself," an educator has said, "is a unique 
talisman for developing the attention.*' How to create 
interest, — such, consequently, ought to be the principal 
anxiety of the teacher. 

Real attention, like affection, does not permit constraint. 
It bestows itself on those who know how to gain it. Hence 
nothing is more important than the choice of the subjects to 
be taught, and particularly the manner of teaching them. 

Without doubt we must guard against the dangers of an 
education that is too compliant, too easy, which makes an 
abuse of what is diverting, and which excludes effort. We 
should not forget, however, that pleasure is the most pow- 
erful stimulant to effort. 80 far as possible, let us remove 
the obstacles that are upon the route of this attention still 

1 Practical Education, Vol. I., p. 106. 



106 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

wavering, which will not keep its track unless it finds what 
is agreeable there. 

Nothing is indifferent to what can contribute towards 
making instruction attractive. The talent of teachers will 
always be the surest pledge of the pupil's attention. But in 
default of talent, simplicity, clearness, cleanness of exposi- 
tion, will have a happy effect on the dispositions of those 
who hear. Even the tone of voice and the attitude of a 
teacher who, as has been said, knows his business, who 
gives proof of the interest which he takes in those whom he 
instructs, — these things will contribute towards exciting the 
interest of those who learn and listen. 

It is not required to make everything agreeable and 
attractive ; but it is to be recollected that only that which 
affects the sensibility, that which is agreeable or painful, 
can with certainty arouse the attention, and that only that 
which is agreeable can hold it. 

103. Curiosity. — In this search for the attractive and 
the interesting the educator is aided by the very nature of 
the child. In fact, the mind of the child is far from being 
repugnant to attention. 

Curiosity, that grand mobile of the intelligence, which 
Fenelon has admirably defined to be a propensity of nature 
which goes in advance of instruction, — curiosity, if skilfully 
excited and duly satisfied, — will be the natural source of 
attention. 

A bishop of the nineteenth century, less liberal than 
Fenelon — Dupanloup — has only harsh words for the curi- 
osity of the child. 

" The soul, trivial, dissipated, curious, open on all sides, lets 
everything slip away and keeps nothing. No serious work is 
possible with it or in it." ^ 

1 Dupaialoup, De I' Education, Tom. III., p. 465. 



CULTURE OF THE ATTENTION. 107 

Curiosity, which is in fact the characteristic of a mine: 
open on all sides, impatient to know, ardent for research, is, 
on the contrar}^ whatever Dupanloup says of it, a precious 
inclination, a happy aptitude, which it is only needful to 
know liow to employ with skill and discretion. It is a sort 
of intellectual appetite, which should be furnished only 
with wholesome aliment. 

Happy the teachers who have to do with intelligences 
naturally curious ! But especially happy are those who 
know how to excite curiosit}' and to keep it active. For 
this purpose we must skilfully appeal to the tastes of the 
child and favor them, yet without overtaxing them. 
"Eagerness to derive advantage from a taste," saj's 
Madame Necker de Saussure, "is often the cause of our 
killing it." 

" The manner in which the child is instnicted," says M. La- 
combe in the same vein, " necessarily has the disadvantage of 
preceding curiosity, of preventing its rise, or at least of sud- 
denly arresting its movements. In fact, what do we do? We 
take a child, set him on a bench, and teach him off-hand a 
multitude of things of wliich he has never observed the exist- 
ence, which he did not anticipate, and which consequently he 
could not desire to know. We extinguish his curiosity before it 
had a chance to be aroused. As to tlie things of which he has 
been able to catch some glimpse, and which perhaps have puz- 
zled him, we bring them before liim all at once, thoroughly, 
and with greater detail than he desires. We overwhelm his 
cnriosity almost before it is born. We teach him so many 
things by compulsion which he no longer has the least desire 
to know." 

Then let us manage the curiosity of the child. Let us 
not smother it by satiating it too soon. Let us reply to 
his questions, as Locke recommends ; but let us also allow 
him the privilege of seeking for himself, by personal obser- 
vation, the satisfaction which he desires. Curiosity cannot 



108 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

truly become the germ of attention, unless it is in part 
handed over to itself, unless it is not too quickly satisfied, 
unless we give it time to put forth an effort after the truth. 

104. Effects of Novelty upon Attention. — One of 
the best means of exciting the curiosity, and hence the 
attention, is to present to the child objects which are new. 
Contrast wakes up the mind, but on one condition, — that 
it be not too violent, and that the new stud}' do not in- 
troduce the child into a world absolutely strange to his 
previous experiences. In subjects entirely new, says Miss 
Edgeworth, we make superabundant efforts of attention, 
and so weary ourselves without profit. 

Who does not know by experience that the beginning 
of a science, notwithstanding the attraction of novelty, 
is particularly painful? In order to reach the truth we 
must reconcile and unite into one the two proverbs, 
"Wholly new, wholly beautiful!" and, "It is only the 
first step which costs ! " 

105. Effects of Variety. — It is less the novelty than 
the variety which is of importance in the education of the 
attention. 

An alternation of occupations and exercises animates a 
class. It is necessary to know how to pass from expo- 
sition to interrogation, from one kind of labor to another. 
The reason of this is that these different exercises are 
addressed to faculties somewhat different. AVhen one fac- 
ulty is wearied it is necessary to grant it some respite 
and to make an appeal to a neighboring faculty. The 
mind of the child, moreover, is eager for change. Often 
a simple change in tone, a diff'erent intonation in the 
voice of the teacher, suffices to revive the attention which 
was beginning to drowse. Nothing is so difficult to follow, 



CULTURE OF THE ATTENTION. 109 

to listen to with attention, as a monotonous discourse de- 
livered without inflections. 

106. Few Things at once. — Our anxiety to vary, to 
diversify instruction, need not cause us to fall into con- 
fusion. A multiplicity of subjects disconcerts the atten- 
tion, rather than aids it. 

" He would be a foolish teacher," says Mr. Sully, " who gave 
a child a number of disconnected things to do at a time, or 
who insisted on keeping his mind bent on the same subject for 
an indefinite period." ^ 

We do not hold the attention, or at least we weary 
and overdrive it in a way to make its efforts useless, 
when we present to it too many subjects at once. "We 
distrust verbose teachers whose thought overflows its limits 
and whose words succeed one another with an extreme 
volubility. No durable effect nor profound impression is 
to be expected from their lectures. The pupil, like the 
teacher, reaches the end of such an oratorical race, out 
of breath. The state of mind into which the erudition and 
precipitate delivery of the teacher plunge the pupil recalls 
the consternation of those Esquimaux whose history is 
given by Miss Edgeworth. 

Newly arrived in London, tliey had visited in one day 
all the monuments of the capital, under the conduct of a 
guide who was in too much of a hurry. On their return, 
when they were asked what they had seen, they did not 
know what to say. It was with ditliculty that one of 
them, repeatedly urged to speak, and finally rousing him- 
self from his torpor, could say while shaking his head, 
"Too much smoke, — too much noise, — too much houses, 
— too much men, — too much everything!"^ 

1 Elements of Paychologi/, p. 104. 

* Practical Education, Vol. I., pp. 98, 99. 



110 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

107. External Conditions of Attention. — It is dan- 
gerous, says Miss Edgewortli, to employ stimulants foreign 
to the subject studied. So far as possible, the interest 
should certainly be made to come from the study itself, and 
set in motion the inner springs of tlie attention. This, 
howcA'er, is not a reason for disdaining the aid which can 
come from without, nor for disregarding the importance 
of the material conditions in which the child may be placed. 

The following, according to M. Breal, are some of these 
conditions : 

" So far as possible the teacher should keep his position, 
holding the class under his eyes and requiring that all eyes 
should be turned towards him. The instruction is not to begin 
till all the children have taken an erect and composed attitude. 
A rap on the table or a word agreed upon is the signal that 
the recitation is to begin. The questions should be addressed 
to the class as a whole; and so the teacher will always first ask 
the question, and then will allow the pause necessaiy for find- 
ing the reply ; and only then will he name the pupil who is to 
reply. If the pupil begins by trying to find the reply after he 
has been called on, it is a proof of inattention. If the response 
made by a pupil is correct, it may be demanded again of a 
fellow-pupil. If it is faulty, it should be corrected by him. 
The important parts of the lesson are repeated in concert by 
the whole class. As soon as inattention appears, the teacher 
stops. A means of reanimating the class, but a means which 
should not be abused, is to call up the class and reseat it at a 
word of command. The pupils should always respond in a very 
loud- voice ; but the teacher may speak in a moderate toue. The 
pupil's ear soon becomes accustomed to explosions of voice, and 
then they ai"e good for nothing." ^ 

To these precautions there must be added others which 
experience suggests. Attention varies with the hours of 
the day, with the days of the week, and with the inter- 

1 Bictionnaire de pe'dagogie, art. "Attention." 



CULTUEE OF THE ATTENTION. Ill 

val which separates work and the taking of food. Atten- 
tion is stronger in the morning class than in the afternoon 
class, and stronger during the first hours of the session 
than during the last. A wise teacher will take account 
of all these differences, in order to regulate the order of 
studies. He will begin with the exercises that are the most 
difficult, and will postpone to the end of the session those 
which require the least effort. 

108. Distractions not to be Tolerated. — The play of 
an intellectual faculty can be truly assured only by re- 
pressing the faults which are opposed to it. We must 
then make war against distraction at all hazards ; and 
after having done everything to correct it by mild means, 
we must resort even to punishments in order to suppress it. 

" Distractions," says Kant, "' ought never to be tolerated, at 
least in school, for they end by degenerating into habits. 

" The finest talents are lost in a man who is subject to dis- 
tractions Inattentive children only half hear, reply 

wholly at random, and do not know what they read." 

109. Cases where Attention is in Revolt. — Defec- 
tive attention comes either accidentally from passing cir- 
cumstances, which it is relatively easy to modify, or from 
the general indifference of a mind at all times incapable 
of becoming fixed. 

In the first case the remedies to be employed will be 
but the application of the recommendations already given, 
which consist in placing the mind in the conditions most 
favorable for the development of the attention. 

These rules, moreover, ought to be applied with care, 
while taking into account the exceptions to which they are 
subject. Thus, it is a general law that the pupil's attention 
is particularly strong at the beginning of the lesson, when 



112 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

it lias not yet been wearied. And yet who has not noticed 
that the child has some dilliculty in making a start? Gen- 
erally, when a child begins his lesson, he is embarrassed, 
and it requires several minutes to recover himself, to re- 
arrange the dispersed forces of his mind. At first he is 
restive, like a horse which must be whipped to a start. 

The situation is more serious when we have to do with 
natures wholly sterile, and when inattention is the sign of a 
general indifference of the mind. Locke says this indif- 
ference of disposition is the worst fault that can manifest 
itself in a child, and the most difficult to correct, because it 
has its source in the constitution. 

But in truth this incurable inattention is very rare. The 
more often the child, even the most inattentive in class, 
because the lessons which he receives there have no attrac- 
tion for him, recovers all his ardor and all his energy, either 
in his play or in a favorite occupation. It is necessary, then, 
to observe his character with care. If he is indifferent in ail 
his actions, there is little hope in the case ; but if there are 
things, whatever they may be, which attract his preference, 
and which he does with pleasure, take care to cultivate this 
particular taste ; make use of it to exercise his activity and 
to secure his attention. Once fixed and developed on one 
point, the attention will radiate upon others, and gradually 
extend itself to the studies which had at first repelled 
him. 

110. Moral Consequences of Defective Attention. — 
It is not only in study, in intellectual labor, that attention is 
profitable. The conduct of life and the vu'tues of character 
have no less need of it than excellences of the intelligence 
have. Defective attention in practical life is the synonym of 
thoughtlessness and heedlessness. To be habitually atten- 
tive is not only the best means of learning and progressing 



CULTURE OF THE ATTENTION. 113 

in the sciences, and the most effective prayer which we 
can address to the truth in order that it may bestow 
itself upon us ; but it is also one of the most precious 
means of moral perfection, the surest means of shunning 
mistakes and faults, and one of the most necessary elements 
of virtue. 



CHAPTEK VI. 

CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 

111. Importance of the Memory. — There is no occa- 
sion to speak at length on the utility of memory. Because 
an abuse was once made of it, because the other faculties of 
the mind were wrongly sacrificed to it in systems of educa- 
tion in which the instruction was exclusively confided to it, 
educators have presumed to decry it, to hold it in susi)ieion, 
and to treat it almost as an enemy. Have they thought 
what education would become without memory ? Have they 
reflected that there is not a moment, so to speak, when 
instruction can do without its aid? It envelops and ac- 
companies the other faculties, and supplies them all with 
aliment. 

"Memory," said Pascal, "is necessary to all the opera- 
tions of spirit." 

"Without memory," wrote Guizot, "the noblest faculties 
remain useless." The moral life itself, as well as the intel- 
lectual life, reposes upon memory, and, as Chateaubriand 
says, "the most affectionate heart would lose its tenderness 
if it no longer recollected." 

Surely to-day no one any longer allows the memory to 
exercise over the mind a domination that belongs only to the 
judgment and to personal reflection. For the memory, as 
for the other powers of the soul, an exclusive culture is 
dangerous ; but it would be as absurd to abjure memory, 
because an abuse has been made of memoriter recitations, as 
114 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 115 

to exclude reasoning because an unwarranted use has been 
made of the syllogism. Infinitely useful for all the purposes 
of practical life, memory is at the same time the most val- 
uable of pedagogical instruments. There is not a faculty 
whose services the educator has more frequent occasion to 
call to his aid ; not one whicli he ought more earnestly to 
seek to develop and train, in view of a preparation for life. 
It is the direct source of much of our knowledge, and the 
guardian of it all. Mr. Bain does not hesitate to say that it 
is "the faculty that most of all concerns us in education."^ 

112. Memory in the Child. — It is precisely at the age 
when everything is to be learned, that the memory is the most 
natural^ strong. Educators grant with one accord that 
cijildhood is the privileged period of memory. Mr. Bain 
estimates that the period in which the ' ' plasticity of the 
brain" and the power of mental acquisition are at theii* 
maximum, extends from the sixth to the tenth 3'ear. In 
general, the child is so happily endowed in respect of memory 
that he retains words and piu'ases which have no meaning 
for him, or even which have no meaning vrhatever. 

Memory is dependent in great part on the vital forces and 
the nervous system. In the child, whose brain is increasing 
in size from day to day, whose nerves vibrate witli an eneigy 
which belongs only to forces still young and plastic, whose 
sensibility has lost nothing of its freshness and primitive 
vivacity, the memory ought necessarily to develop with a 
marvelous facility. Later, in the adult, in the mature man. 
the reflective powers of the mind will come to aid the 
memory ; but they will never succeed in equnling that spon- 
taneous memory of early years, open to all impressions, the 
natural and easy product of the young and still unemployed 
organs. 

1 Education as a Science, p. 20. 



116 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Moreover, the power of the child's memory derives ad- 
vantage from the weakness and inactivity of the other 
faculties. The mind is still unoccupied ; consequently it fills 
itself without effort. Later preoccupations, cares, and per- 
sonal reflections will more or less o])struct the road to im- 
pressions from without. New memories will have difficulty 
in finding a place in the intelligence already encumbered 
with old memories. They will be jumbled and confounded 
in the mind, like new characters which we would engrave on 
paper already covered with writing. The memory of the 
child is a white page on which everything is easily impressed, 
a clean mirror in which everything is reflected. 

113. Opinions of Rousseau and Madame Campan. — 
What shall we think, then, of the opinion of certain educa- 
tors, according to whom the child, at least the young child, 
has no real memory ? 

" Although memory and reason are two different faculties," 
wrote Rousseau, " the one is never really developed without the 
other. . . . Children, incapable of judging, I'eally have no mem- 
ory." 1 

And on her part Madame Campan declares that "the 
memory is not developed till the age of three years." ^ 

It suffices tu study the opinion of Rousseau closely, to be 
convinced that the disaccord with him is simply apparent, 
that it comes from a misunderstanding of terms. The 
memory which Rousseau denies to the child is that of abstract 
ideas ; he is the first to accord to the child a memory of 
sounds, forms, and, in general, of all the sensible notions. 

As to the assertion of Madame Campan, it has reference 
to this fact of general observation, that the mature man 

1 Emile (Boston, 1885), pp. 78, 79. 

2 Be VEducatlon, I., III., Ch. I. 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 117 

does not recall the events of the first two or three years of 
his life. These first years are to ns as though they had not 
been ; a black night covers them over in our consciousness, 
and the darkness is unbroken save by a few gleams, as by 
the remembrance of some grave accident or of some catas- 
trophe. Leibnitz cites the case of a child who became blind 
at the age of two or three, and after that recalled none of 
his visual perceptions.^ 

Does this mean that even during those years at the begin- 
ning of life when the consciousness is still obscure, the 
child's memory does not act, does not acquire ? It would 
suffice, to refute Madame Campan, to recall the fact that at 
the age of three years the child generally knows how to 
speak, and that the knowledge of words and the mother 
tongue supposes a considerable display of memory. Only, 
the first acquisitions of the memory are weak and fragile ; 
they need to be fixed and fortified by a renewal of the same 
impressions, like delicate sketches over which the brush 
should pass several times, in order to hold the fugitive colors, 
always ready to be effaced. 

114. Characteristics op Infant Memory. — The child's 
memory has its own good qualities, and also some defects. 

The first of the good qualities, in children well endowed, 
is a rare power of acquisition. While the tired memory of 
the old man takes delight in languidly calling up the im- 
ages of past times, that of the child is always in move- 
ment, always in quest of new knowledge, just as easily 
acquired as eagerly sought, for the child sees everything, 
hears everything. Nothing escapes his young and active 
senses. He distinguishes objects and persons. He has a 
marvelous aptitude for retaining words and learning lan- 

1 Leibnitz, Nouveaux Essais sur I'entendememt, Liv. I., Ch. III. 



118 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

guages. In certain conditions he will learn two or three 
at once. What the adnlt and the mature man will accom- 
plish only at the cost of painful labor, at the time 
when the jaded memory has come to rebel against the 
registration of new ideas, the child will do with ease, 
and without giving a thought to the work. 

Another characteristic of the child's memory is the lit- 
eral precision, the vigorous exactness of his recollection. 
M. Legouve justly compares the child to an appraiser who 
notes everything, who omits no detail. With a punctil- 
iousness worthy of being quoted as a model for an histo- 
rian, the child recalls the least particularities of things. 
When we relate to him a fable or a story which he knows, 
do not imagine that you can change a single particular, a 
single word, without hearing his cries and protestations : 
"That is not it! " 

On the other baud, the memory of the child has weak- 
nesses which only progress in age can correct. It fails 
especially in this, that it is but little qualified to give an 
exact location in time of the recollections which he has 
acquired. The complete memory supposes an appreciation 
of duration of which the child is incapable, because this 
appreciation requires the co-ordination of recollections. 
Who has not heard children of two or three years of age 
relate as an event of yesterday a transaction wliich they 
witnessed several mouths befc^re ? Too often recollections 
float in the mind of the child like disconnected pictures or 
pictures detached from their frame. 

115. Culture of the Memory. — Montaigne made the 
just remark that we are most often engaged in furnishing 
the memory, but that we forget to form it. The essen- 
tial thing, in fact, is not merely that the child should 
leave school with his mind well garnished with recollec- 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 119 

tions and facts ; it is also important that he have at his 
disposal a flexible and strong memory, in a condition to 
be still more enriched, to appropriate to itself new ideas, 
and to adapt itself to the requirements of life. 

There are, then, two distinct aims in the culture of the 
memory. , First, it must be made to acquire the most 
knowledge possible, which is the object of the whole 
course of instruction. In the second place, it must be 
strengthened and developed in so far as it is a faculty 
of the mind. This no doubt results in part from the 
instruction itself, but it also requires some special pre- 
cautions, the sum of which coustitutes what may be 
called the education proper of the memory. 

116. Is THIS Necessary? — But is this special culture 
of the memory necessary? And, if it is proved that it is 
necessary, is it possible? 

We do not hesitate to reply in the affirmative, not- 
withstanding the contrary opinion of Locke. 

Locke's special argument for calling in question the util- 
itv of training the memory in school, is the constant use 
which we make of it in the world and in life. He says 
that memory is so necessary in all the transactions of 
life, there are so few things in which we can do without 
it, that there would be no occasion for fearing that it 
will become enfeebled and blunted for lack of exercise, 
if exercise were really the condition of its power. 

Without doubt life will be a good training for the 
memory, but on one condition, which is, that the mem- 
ory has already been made pliant and broken to labor 
by the studies of youtli, and that the man receive it 
from the hands of the scholar as an instrument already 
fashioned. There is no teacher who is not authorized 
to contradict the opinion of Locke, for all know by ex- 



120 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

perience that the best memories have need of long ef- 
forts in order to attain their maximum of power ; that 
mediocre memories would soon grow rusty if they were 
not constantly exercised ; and tluit finally the memories nat- 
urally poor would always remain sterile, if they were not 
early cultivated. 

117. Is SUCH A Culture possible? — But Locke goes 
stiU fiu-ther. His ultimate thought is, not that the cul- 
ture of the memory is useless, but that it is impossi- 
ble. Exercising the memory on such or such an object 
*■' no more fits the memory for the retention of anything 
else, than the graving of one sentence in lead makes 
it the more capable of retaining firmly any other char- 
acters." ^ Here again the English educator is in contra- 
diction with facts. 

Whatever notion we form theoretically of the nature 
of the memory ; whether we connect it entirely with or- 
ganic conditions, as Luys and Ribot do, or whether we 
consider it an independent power of the soul, with all 
spiritualist philosophers, it is practically certain that memory 
makes progress through skilful attention and intelligent 
exercise, and that it is not true to say that it depends 
entirely on a "happy constitution." 

Another paradox would be to hold, with Jacotot, by 
a contrary exaggeration, that education can do everything ; 
that at birth memories are equal in all children, and 
that inequalities come exclusively from negligence, from 
lack of care, from inattention, and from lack of culture. 
Without speaking of extraordinary and exceptional memo- 
ries, which make light of all difficulties, like that of a 
Villemain, repeating a discourse after having heard it, of a 

^ See Compayre's History of Pedagogy, pp. 207, 208. 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 121 

Mozart writing the " Miserere " of the Sistine Chapel 
after hearing it twice, of a Horace Vernet, or of a Gus- 
tave Dure', painting portraits from memory, — without in- 
voking the testimony of these prodigious memories, which 
attest by their brilliancy the potency of nature, there is 
no humble school where upon the pupils' benches the 
teacher does not distinguish notable differences in natu- 
ral aptitudes for learning and remembering. 

The inequality of different minds, says Mr. Bain, with 
respect to the assimilation of knowledge, in circumstances 
absolutely the same, is a well-known fact ; and this is 
one of the obstacles presented by simultaneous instruc- 
tion given to a certain number of pupils arranged in 
the same class. 

118. Exercise of the Memory. — "We shall assume, 
then, as settled, that it is necessary and possible to cultivate 
the memory. Now, there is no other means of cultivating it 
than to exercise it. But to exercise it profitably, and to 
reach conclusions that are really practical, it is not sufficient 
to study the memory in general or as a whole, but we must 
make an analysis of its elements. 

119. Different Qualities of the Memory. — "A good 
memory," says Rollin, "should have two qualities, two 
virtues, — first, that of receiving promptly and without diffi- 
culty what is intrusted to it, and then that of guarding it 
faithfully." To these qualities a third should be added, that 
of easily restoring what has been quickly learned and exactly 
retained. My memory is poor, if it does not allow me to 
dispose of all I know with facility and promptness ; if, as 
Montaigne says, "It serves me when it pleases, rather than 
when / please." 

These different qualities of memory are not always found 



122 TlIEORETICivL PEDAGOGY. 

united.^ It happens that oue who learns quicklj^ also for- 
gets quickly. The memories that are the quickest are often 
the most treacherous. Their accjuisitious resemble fortunes 
too rapidly made ; they lack solidity. Often that which 
comes easily also goes easily. 

But these qualities, however, do not exclude oue another ; 
there is usually a solidarity among them. The ideal is to 
have them all at once, and the education of the memory 
ought to have in view the perfecting of each of them, by 
particular attention and by a special culture. 

120. Promptness in Apprehending. — It is particularly 
in this quality that the memory is dependent on nature, upon 
innate tendencies. Art is powerless to establish equality 
between those docile, malleable intelligences, of vivid im- 
pressions, which impregnate themselves, so to speak, with 
everything that they perceive, and tiiose slow, indolent, 
unyielding spirits, which learn only with great difficult}^ the 
little that they do learn. Let us not conclude from this, 
however, that we must despair of correcting, at least in 
part, these natural defects. 

" We must not be easily discouraged," Rollin very justly says. 
" nor yield to that first resistance of the memory wliicli we have 
often seen conquered and broken by patience and perseverance. 
At first, only a few lines should be given such a child to learn, 
but he should be required to learn them with exactness. We 
may try to mollify the disagreeableness of this work by present- 
ing to him only things which are agreeable, sucli, for example, 
as the fables of I^a Fontaine and thrilling stories. An indus- 
trious and earnest teacher may work with his pupil, sometimes 
allowing him to beat and get the start, and thus making him 
feel that by his own power he can do much more than he 

1 It appears to me wholly exaggerated to say, with M. Marion, 
"The three qualities of memory are almost never uuited." 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 123 

thought he coukl.^ In proportion as we see progress making 
we may gradually and insensibly inci'ease the daily task." 

lu other terms, carefully manage the weak memories by 
requiring of them ouly moderate and graduated exercises ; 
do not discourage them on the start, but rather stimulate 
them l)y skilfully preparing little successes for them and by 
inspiring them with some confidence in themselves ; such is 
the spirit of the practical counsels of Rollin. 

Let us add that weakness of memory not being an ultimate 
fact of mental life, since it proceeds from and depends upon 
the absence of certain conditions, such as the lack of vivid 
impressions and unsteadiness of attention, we shall have 
done much towards limbering up dull memories if wo have 
known how to awaken the sensibility and give stability to 
tlie mind of the child. 

In particular, whatever will fortify the attention will aid 
the memory. Now, there is no better way to make a pupil 
attentive than to explain to him clearly and make him per- 
fectly comprehend whatever is taught him. The Conduite 
des Ecoles chretiennes (edition of 18G0) declares that 
"pupils learn only with great difticulty what they do not 
comprehend."^ Pascal said of himself that he never forgot 
what he had once comprehended. Whatever may be said to 
the contrary, there is no disaccord between the memory and 
the judgment. In making all his instruction exact, in multi- 
plying his explanations, the teacher is not working alone for 
the judgment, but also for the memory. 

1 " We have often had learned before us, — with us, rather, — in ten 
minutes, by a whole class and perfectly, a half page of text, a short 
fable of La Fontaine. Try this plan of teaching to all your pupils 
some given lesson, which you explain and cause to be comprehended, 
and you will see produced astonishing results of infant memory." — 
E. Rendu, Manuel, p. 202. 

2 Conduite a I'usage des Ecoles chretiennes, p. 16. 



124 THEORETICAL TEDAGOGY. 

That which will also contribute to promptness in learning 
is order, the logical connection of the facts which are pre- 
sented to the child ; in a word, it is the association of ideas. 

" It is indubitable," says the Port Royal logic, " that one 
learns with a facility incomparably greater, and that he retains 
much better, what is taught in the true order ; because the ideas 
which have a natural sequence arrange themselves much better 
in our memory and revive one another much more easily." ^ 

121. Tenacity of Recollkctions. — Recollections me- 
thodically acquired, the possession of which is pledged by 
the attention that has fixed them in the mind, and by 
the intelligence that has comprehended their meaning, 
generally speaking defy forgetfulness. In other terms, all 
the efforts which are made to facilitate the acquisition of 
recollections also assure their conservation. 

There are, however, some particular rules to be observed 
relative to the second quality of memory. The first of these 
is repetition, which is one of the necessary means of training 
the power of recollection. 

It is an old pedagogical maxim that repetition is the soul 
of instruction : Repetitio mater studiorum. We must often 
recur to the same things, and not fear the tedium of a fre- 
quent return to the same ideas. " "We retain," said Jacotot, 
"only what we repeat." He concludes from this, in ac- 
cordance with the adage, Multam, non rmdta, that it is suf- 
ficient to learn one thing, and to know that well. The con- 
tinued repetition of one single book would be the ideal of 
instruction. Strange exaggeration, which, on the pretext of 
strengthening the memory, would result in impoverishing it ! 
Extent of knowledge is not less desirable than solidity. 
But it remains none the less true that, freed from the narrow 
bounds in which Jacotot inclosed it, and employed under all 

1 Logic de Port-Royal, 4e partie, Ch. X. 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 125 

its forms (recall, pure and simple, of what has been said, 
summaries, general review), repetition is one of the essential 
conditions for the development of the memory. 

" It is not often," says Mr. Bain, " that one single occurrence 
leaves a permanent and recoverable idea ; usually, we need several 
repetitions for the purpose. The process of fixing the impression 
occupies a certain length of time ; either we must prolong the 
first shock, or renew it in several successive occasions. This is 
the first law of memory." ^ 

Another important condition of the fidelity of recollection 
is the rigorous and exact precision of the ideas which are 
intrusted to the mind. We must not be satisfied with half- 
way work, and this is why in certain cases a literal repeti- 
tion, and in all cases a detailed and minute knowledge of 
what has been learned, should be required of the child. In 
the interesting chapter in which she takes those to task who 
have proposed to replace the study of words by the study of 
things, Madame Necker de Saussure rightly observes that 
these two studies are inseparably connected. 

" The pupil is told to give his effort only to the sense of the 
words employed in his lessons, without giving his attention to the 
words, and that when he recites his lesson, if it is seen that he 
comprehends the sense of it, we should be satisfied, whatever 
expressions he may use to render an account of it. Nevertheless 
these expressions are almost always very vague, very inexact, 
for children are not very skillful redacieurs. This boasted com- 
prehension remains confused and soon disappears, because it has 
not been fastened to fixed and positive words." ^ 

122. Promptness in Recalling. — The precious and rare 
quality called presence of mind depends in great part on 
this third form of the memory. The best means of de- 

1 Education as a Science, p. 20. 

2 L'Educatioji progressive, Tom. II., p. 286. 



126 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

veloping it will be, in the first place, frequent interrogations. 
B}' unexpected questions the child must be made to exert 
himself, and, so to speak, to jog his memory. He must be 
accustomed to recover himself promptly, and from among so 
many others to seize the recollection demanded of him. In 
this way we shall awaken slumbering memories which have 
treasures, but do not know how to make use of them. 

Another important recommendation is to oppose routine, 
and whatever there is of the mechanical in the use of the 
}nemory. The child who is quick to learn is too often in- 
clined to repeat mechanically what is taught him, in the 
order and form in which he has been taught. He will re- 
peat without perturbation a chronological series of the kings 
of France, and will recite without the change of a word a 
theorem of geometry ; but if he is slightly disturbed in this 
purely mechanical process, he comes to a standstill. There 
is no other means of correcting this fault, or of preventing 
it, than frequently to take the child at unawares by questions 
in which the natural order is inverted, and then to compel 
him to repeat under another form, or with some change of 
expression, what he has committed to memory. 

123. Memouy and Judgment. — One dominant thought 
ought to govern all the efforts of the educator in this careful 
search for the means of cultivating the memory ; and this is 
not to develop it to the injury of the judgment.^ 

A prejudice somewhat widely current is to the effect that 
"the meuiory is the almost irreconcilable enemy of the 
judgment." (Fontenelle.) Through cultivating their mem- 
ory certain people come to leave their judgment fallow. 
We then have to do with insupportable pedants who do not 

1 The following is tlio epitaph of the Pf-re Hardouin, a Jesuit of the 
seventeenth century, the author of learned works : " Hie jacet vir 
bonse memorise expectans judicium." 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 127 

think for themselves, or who risk their own thought only 
under cover of a quotation ; who know only what others 
have thought and said. Said Kant, "What is a man who 
has a great memory, but no judgment? He is but a 
living lexicon." 

Surely we must be on our guard, even at school, against 
an excess of memory work. To this faculty is applicable in 
particular the rule proposed by Kant : " Cultivate separate^ 
no faculty for itself ; ^ cultivate each in view of the others." 
Unduly cultivated, the memory annuls, so to speak, the 
other faculties, and, according to the saying of Vauve- 
nargues, "we must have memory only in proportion to 
our intelligence." 

But there is nothing to fear of the memory, provided we 
hold it to its place and consider it only as an auxiliary fac- 
ulty, "as a marvelous instrument," to use Montaigne's 
phrase, "without which the judgment can hardly perform 
its office." When intrusted to a living, active mind, which 
preserves the liberty of its judgments, things committed to 
the memory, however numerous they may be, animate and 
vivify the intelligence, far from benumbing and stifling it ; 
they furnish it without encumbering; it. Moreover, they are 
here the starting-point of a whole harvest of new ideas. As 
Mile. Marchef-Girard has said, with some exaggeration, 
"the memory is not a tomb, but a cradle in which ideas 
grow."^ 

124. Memory and Verbal Repetition. — The discredit 
into which memor}^ has sometimes fallen, is chiefly due to 
the confusion made between memory proper and repetition, 
that is, a particular form of the use of the memory. 
Even were we to proscribe verbal repetition, and renounce 

1 Des Faculte's humaines, p. 275. 



128 THEOKETICAX PEDAGOGY. 

learning by heart, it would be none the less necessary to 
develop the memory. 

But verbal repetition itself is far from deserving all the 
criticism which it has received. 

125. Opinion of Herbert Spencer. — Herbert Spen- 
cer is one of those who have the most vigorously con- 
demned the method of memoriter recitations. 

" The once universal practice of learning by rote is daily falling 
more into discredit. All modern authorities condemn the old 
mechanical way of learning the alphabet. The multiplication- 
table is now frequently taught experimentally. 

" In the acquirement of languages, the Grammar-school plan is 
being superseded by plans based on the spontaneous process fol- 
lowed by the child in gaining its mother tongue The rote- 
system, like other systems of its age, made more of the forms and 
symbols than of the thing syndjolized. To repeat the words 
correctly was everything ; to understand their meaning, nothing : 
and thus the spirit was sacrificed to the letter. It is at length 
perceived that, in this case as in others, such a result is not acci- 
dental but necessary, — that in proportion as there is attention 
to the signs, there must be inattention to the thing signified." ^ 

In this quotation we again observe Mr. Spencer's habit- 
ual faults, his lofty, absolute assertions, devoid of measure 
and so of justness. That abuse was once made, and is 
still made, of memory lessons, no one denies ; we still re- 
call what painful and dreary hours of study we spent at 
college in repeating in a low voice long texts of Greek, 
Latin, and French. But because too much was formerly 
learned by heart, at college and even at school, is it any 
reason why nothing at all should now be learned b}' heart? 

126. Arguments pro and con. — The adversaries of 

1 Education, pp. 103, 104. 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 129 

verbal repetition defend their position on various grounds. 
American educators are distinguished for the ardor of 
their attacks. Thus James Johonnot asserts that the sj'^s- 
tem of instruction which consists in making pupils learn b}' 
heart has no longer any justification in modern societies, 
where it is of less consequence to maintain blind tradi- 
tions and inconsiderate respect for the past, than to for- 
tify the reason and to promote personal reflection.^ 

Evidently the argument is valid only against a system 
of memorizing carried to an extreme in which is recpiired 
a literal repetition, word for word, in all branches of 
instruction, even in those where it is least appropriate, 
as in the sciences and in ethics. 

Other educators allege that the result of memoriter tasks 
is not worth the trouble that is taken to attain it. What 
does it profit a pupil to repeat ready-made phrases and 
to acquire a knowledge that is purely verbal ? ' ' To know 
by heart is not to know," Montaigne has said. More- 
over, literal repetition requires an intense effort and a 
great sacrifice of time. The mind is wearied and ex- 
hausted in this effort ; and while the pupil is tormented 
and burdened by his lessons, the time passes, precious 
time, which might be better employed. 

We reply that, at least in certain cases, the idea can- 
not be separated from the only words which adequately 
express it, and that it is necessary, consequently, to retain 
them exactly. We are not really masters of our own 
thoughts until we have found the words which are fit to 
express them. In quite a large number of cases, to know 
by heart is the only means of knov«iug. 

From another point of view, effort is necessary in ed- 
ucation. It is not well to treat the child too tenderly, 

1 Principles and Practice of Teaching, New York, 1881, p. 171. 



130 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

and to absolve him from all labor in verbal memorizing, 
on tlie ground that he will have understood and vaguely 
retained the meaning of what is taught him. The ob- 
jections which we have just examined bear against the 
abuse of verbal repetition employed indiscreetly and to 
excess, rather than against the discreet and moderate use 
of literal repetition, in subjects where it is indispensable. 

127. Where Literal Repetition is kecessary. — An 
English educator, Mr. Fitch, has concisely stated the rule 
that determines the cases in which literal repetition is 
necessary : 

" When the object is to have thoughts, facts, reasonings repro- 
duced, seek to have them reproduced in the pupil's own words. 
Do not set the faculty of mere verbal memory to work. Biit 
when the words themselves in which a fact is embodied have 
some special fitness or beauty of their own, when they repre- 
sent some scientific datum or central truth, which could not 
otherwise be so well expressed, then see that the form as 
well as the substance of the expression is learned by heart." i 

According to this, it is easy to fix the limit which 
verbal repetition should not pass. In grammar, the prin- 
cipal rules ; in arithmetic, the definitions ; in geometry, 
the theorems ; in the sciences in general, the formnhe ; 
in history, a few summaries ; in geography, the expla- 
nation of certain technical terms ; in ethics, a few max- 
ims ; these are things which the child t)ught to know 
word for word, verbatim^ on the condition, of course, 
that he perfectly understands the meaning of what he 
recites, and that his attention is called to the thought 
not less than to the form of expression. Nothing sh<»uld 
be intrusted to memory except that which the intelli- 

1 Fitch, op. cit, p. 135. 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. ' 131 

gence has perfectly comprehended. Everything else must 
be referred to the liberal memory of thoughts, not to the 
strict memory of words ; and it is as mischievous as it 
is useless, and as dangerous as it is difficult, to require 
long pages of history, of grammar, and of physics, to 
be learned by heart. 

128. Exercises in Memorizing. — There is, however, 
another important use of verbal repetition, — the literal 
study of choice extracts, selections in prose and verse 
suitable for enriching and adorning the memory of children. 
"Exercises in exact memorizing are not suiliciently em- 
ployed in our schools."^ There is no better means of 
forming the taste of pupils, of tcacliing them to feel and 
enjoy eloquence and poetry, the power of beautiful thoughts 
and the charm of fine language. Even a careful reading 
does not always suffice ; it must be accompanied from 
time to time by verbal recitation. By this means you 
constrain the memory to an effort of marked intensity, 
to a real concentration of the attention. You also oblige 
the child to speak. Finally, by this means the child 
penetrates more deepl}' into the processes and the art 
of the great writers ; he appropriates their style and forms 
within himself a treasm-y of beautiful models which the 
mind of the pupil unconsciously recalls when he himself 
comes to write. 

The recitation of authors is not only an exercise in 
memory, but also in language and pronunciation ; and 
finally, it is an excellent preparation for writing, for origi- 
nal composition. But we do not forget the difficulty tliere 
is in choosing selections for recitations. In fact, in tiie 
pages which are to be learned by heart there must be 

1 E. Reudu, Manuel tie Venmgnement prbnaire, p. 201. 



132 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

found united the talent of the writer and the simplicity of 
a thought which is just, pure, in a sense popular, and 
within the range of the young hearers whom we are 
instructing. 

129. Abuse of Verbal Memorizing. — We should be 
careful, however, not to go to extremes. On this point 
we recall the saying of Dr. Johnson. One day, as he was 
visiting a school where the custom of learning fables was 
in fashion, a lad stepped forward to declaim a selection 
for the Doctor, while at his side his younger brother was 
preparing to recite another selection for him. " My little 
fellows," said Johnson, interrupting the one who was speak- 
ing, "could you not recite for me your verses both at 
once ? " But it is not merely because they are insupportable 
to others that we condemn those who are too much given 
to recitation, but because they render no sort of service to 
themselves and waste their own time. We have not the 
least admiration for those wonderful feats of memory which 
consist, for example, as Rabelais has said, in making 
sport of them, in reciting a book from beginning to end, 
backwards and forwards. 

" I would prefer," said Madame de Maintenon, in speaking 
of her pupils of Saint Cyr, " that they retain only ten lines 
which they perfectly understand, rather than learn a whole 
volume without knowing what they are repeatmg." 

130. Choice of Exercises. — Little and well, — such, 
then, will be the rule in the matter of memorizing. In 
making selections, preference will be given to extracts 
which are interesting and varied, now in verse and now 
in prose, and especially in verse for little children. Care 
will be taken to read them aloud to the class before 
causing them to be learned, so that the exercise in reci- 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 133 

tatiou shall at first be a reading lesson. Then these ex- 
ercises will be carefully explained. We are not of those 
who think that the memory should ever anticipate the 
intelligence,^ and that it is well to begin with a sort 
of mechanical culture of the memory by requiring things 
to be learned which are not understood. The child, doubt- 
less, with his marvelous facility at memorizing, will sub- 
mit to this mechanical labor ; but in doing so he will 
contract a dangerous habit from which he will suffer all 
his life, — that of repeating like a parrot phrases of 
which he can give no account. 

131. Summary of the Conditions for the Develop- 
ment OF the Memory. — Au Euglisli educator, Mr. Blackie, 
lias happily summed up the principal conditions to be ful- 
filled for assuring strength of memory, or for re-enforcing 
its weakness.^ These conditions are the following : 

1. The clearness, vivacity, and intensity of the original 
mipression. 

2. The order and classification of the facts. 

3. Repetition. "If the nail does not go m at one stroke, 
let it have another and another." 

4. The power of logical sequence. " The man who is slow 
to remember without a reason, searches after the causal 
connection of the facts, and, when he has found it, binds to- 
gether by the bonds of rational sequences what the constitu- 
tion of his mind disinclined him to receive as an arbitrary 
and unexplained succession." 

5. The artificial relations established between the things 
remembered. 

6. The use of written notes. "The lack of a memory nat- 
urally good," said Montaigne, "caused me to make one of 
paper." 

1 See Appendix A. 

2 Blackie, op. cit, p. 19 et seq. 



134 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

To these conditions, which are all of the psychologi- 
cal order, there must be added, for the sake of com- 
pleteness, the physical conditions. 

" The first general circumstance favoring retentiveness," says 

Mr. Bain, "is the physical condition of the individual 

It includes general health, vigor, and freshness at the moment, 
together with the further indispensable proviso that the nutri- 
tion, instead of being drafted off to strengthen the mere 
physical functions, is allovired to run in good measure to the 
brain." ^ 

Everybody knows by experience that the power of the 
memory is greater after a meal than before it, after 
sleep than before it. 

132. Mnemonic Devices. — Educational writers have often 
recommended the use of artificial methods, which, by 
establishing an artificial bond between recollections, insure 
their durability and facilitate their recall. 

But, in the first place, mnemonic devices have the dis- 
advantage of accustoming the mind to arbitrary and su- 
perficial associations of ideas. Had they, with respect 
to the development of the memory, all the efficacy which 
is ascribed to them, it would still be necessary to con- 
demn them, by reason of the mischievous influence which 
they might exert upon the judgment and the reason. 

1 Education as a Science, p. 22. However much disposed we- 
may be to take into account tlie physical conditions, we believe 
that in pedagogy we must be cautious of considerations of this 
nature. We do not see what education can gain from observa- 
tions like these: "The words which we make use of in our 
thoughts do not appear in consciousness, except through the ac- 
tivity of the special cells which are situated, in general, in the 
third frontal convolution of the left licmisphere." (From an article 
on the Ee'citation classique, by M. Uouliot, in tlie Eeme de I'enseigne- 
ment secondaire, mai, 1885.) 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 135 

But still further, what must we think of these devices 
as they affect the memory itself? 

" Artificial bonds of association," says Mr. Blaclfie, " ma}' 
also sometimes be found useful, as when a school-boy remem- 
bei-s that Abydos is on the Asiatic coast of the Hellespont, 
because both Asia and Abydos commence with the letter A ; 
but such tricks suit rather the necessities of an ill-trained 
governess than the uses of a manly mind. I have no faith 
in the systematic use of what are called artificial nmemonic 
systems ; they fill the fancy with a set of arbitrary and 
ridiculous symbols, which interfere with the natural play of 
the faculties. Dates in history, to which this sort of machin- 
ery has been generally applied, are better recollected by the casual 
dependence, and even the accidental contiguity, of great names." ^ 

The true mnemonics is that which is founded on the 
real relations, the natural association of ideas, and upon 
the method and logical order which should be introduced 
into instruction. On the contrary, the mnemonics which 
is based on artificial resemblances and conventional re- 
lations may be useful for preserving a particular remem- 
brance ; but it is injurious to the general culture of the 
memory. Everything tliat aids the memory does not, in 
fact, strengthen it ; and it contracts bad hal)its by l)eing 
furnished with exterior supports and artificial aids, which 
disqualify it for relying upon itself and upon the nature 
of things. 

133. The Association of Ideas. — The association of 
ideas is one of the essential laws of the development of the 
memory, iu the sense that our recollections are connected 
with one another, that their connection fixes them in the 
mind, and that, once associated by any bond whatever, the 
appearance of one suffices to evoke the other. This is why 

1 Blackie, op. cit, pp. 20, 21. 



136 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

new studies, which by the attraction of their very novelty 
excite the attention, fatigue and disconcert the memory, 
because the ideas wliich they suggest to the mind do not find 
these points of support, that is, other analogous ideas to 
which they can be attached. 

In the culture of the memory the teacher will then take 
advantage of the association of ideas and of its different 
principles, — some of them accidental and exterior, like con- 
tiguity in time and space ; others intrinsical and logical, like 
the relation of cause to effect. The more relations that are 
established among the items of knowledge, the greater will 
be the association of ideas, and the more active and tena- 
cious the memory. Saint Francois de Sales said, in a 
pointed way : " A good way to learn is to study ; a better 
is to listen ; the very best is to teach ! " 

If the best way to learn is really to teach, it is precisely 
because the teacher is ol)liged to classify and co-ordinate the 
knowledges which he teaches, and to subject them to a rig- 
orous and methodical order. • 

134. Different Forms op the Memory. — "We speak 
of the memory," says M. Legouve ; " we should say memo- 
ries." In truth, there is a memory of facts, a memory of 
words, a memory of ideas, a memory of dates, of places, 
and still others ; and these different memories, while not 
excluding one another, are rarely found united in the same 
person. One wlio retains imperturbably a series of figures 
and computations will be incapable of recalling the forms of 
objects and the appearance of persons. It is habit, it is 
frequent and repeated exercise, which contriliutes more than 
nature to the development of these different dispositions. 
Each profession, each trade, tends to favor the one or the 
other. At school, the duty of the teacher should be to 
oppose these specializations of the memory and not permit 



CULTURE OF THE MEMORY. 137 

it to be devoted exclusively to the acquisition of a single 
kind of knowledge. 

In a word, the memory ought to be developed in all direc- 
tions, in behalf of abstract ideas as in behalf of sensible 
images and notions. It should be a flexible and general 
power of acquisition, which lends itself to all the labors of 
thought and to all the occupations of life. If it is but the 
guardian of a privileged class of recollections, it will still 
render important services, but services which are restricted 
and particular ; it will no longer be the universal faculty 
which it should be, the servant of the intelligence, a servant, 
moreover, with which we cannot dispense. 



CHAPTER VII. 

CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. 

135. Office of the Imagination. — The imagination is 
not one of those essential faculties which, like the niemoiT, 
take part in all the mental operations, or, like the jiulgraent, 
are constantly making manifest the activity of the spirit. 
It is impossible to imagine an intelligence which cannot 
recollect, which cannot judge ; but it is possible for us to 
conceive of a man without imagination. 

The judgment is the normal act of the intellectual life ; 
the memory is one of its necessary conditions. The imagi- 
nation is but an auxiliary, accessory faculty ; it merely inter- 
venes on occasion to aid, and sometimes to impede in their 
development, the other powers of the soul. 

136. Benefits of the Imagination. — We by no means 
deny the great and real services which the imagination is 
called to render, either in practical life, in literature and the 
arts, or even in science. We do not forget tliat it em- 
bellishes existence by the golden dreams with which it lulls 
us, that it nourishes our hopes, and that it fills by its sweet 
contemplations the chasms and intervals of active, reflective 
life. Nor do we forget that it is the inspirer of poetry and 
the handmaid of art, and that without it literature would be 
but a cold and insipid photograph of reality. The scientist 
himself has need of imagination, for it suggests to him 
fruitful hypotheses and bold inventions, which often put him 

138 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. . 139 

on the route toward the truth ; and a philosopher has said 
tliat a chapter on logic might be written with this title : 
Errors committed through default of imagination^ 

137. Dangers of the Imagination. — But if it is easy to 
extol the imagination and its benefits, it is none the less so 
to decry it and point out its dangers. Of how many errors 
and illusions is it not the source ! Pascal harshly character- 
ized it as "the enemy of reason," "the mistress of error 
and falsehood." Malebranche called it " the madcap of the 
house," to express the error and the disorder which it can 
excite in the soul. 

The education of the imagination will not, then, be merely 
a work of excitation and development. 

Like the sensibility, like all the disturbed and disturlnng 
faculties, susceptible of good and of evil, the imagination 
must be supervised, restrained, and directed. 

"Other faculties," says Madame de Saussm-e, "furnish no 
occasion for constraint. Every innocent exercise which tends 
to strengthen the attention, the reason, and the memory 
forms a part of our plan, and we can employ it without hesi- 
tation in the work of development; but the moment the im- 
agination becomes the subject of our attention, all becomes 
more delicate and dangerous. To restrain, to regulate, to 
moderate, is often more necessary than to develop; and yet 
who would extinguish the imagination?" 

138. Its Power in Childhood. — All the phih)sophers 
save Rousseau, who, continuing to isolate himself in his par- 
adoxes, denies imagination to the child, after having denied 
him memory, — all the observers of childhood are in accord 
in recognizing in this period of life tlie precocious develop- 
ment of the imagination. Madame de Saussure, who has 

1 Paul Janet, Philosophie du bonheur, p. 61. 



140 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

written upon this subject one of the finest chapters of her 
excellent book, declares that at the beginning of life the 
imagination is "all-powerful."^ 

It is Kant's opinion that the infant imagination is ex- 
tremeW vivid, and that it needs to be governed, not to be 
enlarged. 

139. Its Different Forms. — But before going further, 
in order to introduce greater clearness into a question of 
such delicacy, it is important at this point to distinguish the 
two principal forms of the imagination, — one which is 
ordinarily called the representative imagination, which is 
hardly more than vivid memory, the faculty of recalling with 
the eyes closed what we have seen with the eyes open ; the 
other, which is in truth the imagination proper, that which 
invents and combines under new forms the images borrowed 
from the memory. The representative imagination, more- 
over, is the starting-point of the other, the humble cradle of 
a faculty summoned to the most brilliant destinies. 

" The imagination," says Madame Pape-Carpantier, " that 
precious endowment, has been given to the child in order to 
permit him, when he has imitated what he has seen, to 
construct for himself, in his turn, things that are new. Thus 
this faculty is endowed with an incessant activity, which 
is ever urging the child to action. It is only rarely, then, 
that we have to stimulate the imagination ; but we have to 
oifer it wholesome aliment and open to it straight and be- 
coming paths." 2 

140. The Representative Imagination. — We might be 
tempted to think that the representative imagination, 
manifestly useful to the artist and the painter, who need 

1 Education progressive, Tom. II., p. 297, Ch. VIII. 

2 Madame Pape-Carpantier, Cuws complet d'e'ducatlon, 1874. 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. 141 

to form vivid representations of objects, renders no ser- 
vice to the child and plays no part in the earliest educa- 
tion; but a little reflection suffices to prove the contrary, 

A vivid representation of the letters of the alphabet 
will be of great service in teaching to read and write 
quickly and well. Further on, in the tracing of maps, 
in the study of geometry, and still more in the exer- 
cises in drawing, children well endowed with respect to 
the imagination, and accustomed to conceive with clear- 
ness the material forms of objects, will have no difficulty 
in surpassing their comrades. 

Even in the study of orthography, the representative 
imagination has its importance. How shall we explain 
the fact that one child, as intelligent as another, who 
has even read much more, is nevertheless much slower 
in learning to spell? The cause of this is probably in 
the weakness of the representative imagination. Certain 
children, who read readily, in some way do not follow 
the text except by the thought ; their eyes are not suf- 
ficiently fixed upon the words themselves and upon the 
elements which compose them. So that, when asked to 
write from memory a word which they have read for the 
tenth time, they bungle and disfigure it, they do not re- 
produce all its letters ; like unskillful draftsmen, who 
through defective imagination cannot represent with exact- 
ness the object which they have seen and which they 
wish to draw from memory. 

141. Culture of the Representative Imagination. — 
Though the representatlA'e imagination, like the memory, 
is instinctively ver}' powerful, it may nevertheless be 
the object of a special cultm'e. Exercises in intuition, 
like those employed by Pestalozzi, are especially adapted 
to this education. Mr. Bain states that almost the only 



142 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

means of strengthening tliis faculty is by making addi- 
tions to our knowledge ; l)ut on this condition, however, 
that we have due regard to the precision of tlie knowl- 
edge communicated, and to the clearness and vividness 
of tlie perceptions we acquire. A multitude of ideas, 
confusedly and vaguely conceived, would tend only to 
befog and obscure the imagination. In order to imagine 
well, we must begin by seeing well. 

Accustomed to conceive clearly and distinctly wiiatever 
the senses pei'ceive, the imagination will become a good 
instrument of intuition, invaluable not only for recalling 
objects that we have seen, but also for representing 
objects that we have not seen. In fact, the imaginative 
faculty, in its higher manifestations, is something more 
than the mere photographic reproduction of what has 
been really perceived ; it allows us to conceive with 
clearness any object whatever from a simple verbal de- 
scription of it. It is a great help in the study of 
history and geography, because it places the child in a 
position to see, with the eyes of the mind, the places, 
the events, and the men that are the subjects of the 
lesson. It animates instruction, gives vividness to ideas 
and coloring to events, and so inspires an interest in 
the subject in hand. 

Care must be taken, however, that the child does not 
make a misuse of the conceptive faculty. Very mucli 
disposed to think by images, he has not at his dispo- 
sition, in the early years of his life, that algebra of 
thought called language. Back of each word that he 
pronounces, he sees with its details of form and color, 
the object designated by that word. If pushed too far, 
this is a dangerous haliit, l)ecause it obstructs the clearness 
and the celerity of thought, and causes the pupil to 
loiter amid useless imaginings. The image should not 



CULTUKE OF THE IMAGINATION. 143 

stifle the idea and obstruct the work of abstract thought, 
by mingling with them a train of sensible representations. 

Let us add that the representative imagination should 
not be considered merely an instrument which is to be 
made deft and strong. It is a direct source of acqui- 
sitions ; it peoples our consciousness and heart with a 
world of images and recollections. 

Hence the need of careful oversight and of choice 
in the first impressions of the imagination. The child 
must be shielded from whatever is ugly, repulsive, and 
immoral. Madame de Sevigne was fond of repeating 
the saying, "To the pure all things are pure." In 
other terms, in a soul healthy and pure unwholesome 
impressions leave no trace of evil. Perhaps this is true 
of consciences already formed and of characters already 
established, whose inclinations are strong enough, whose 
habits are sufficiently fixed to reject every impure alloy, 
and which can encounter the most pernicious impressions 
with impunit}' ; but this saying is not applical)le to the 
child whose mind, in the process of formation, is im-* 
pregnated with everything that touches it and opposes 
resistance to no impression.^ 

That which is best adapted to the early culture of 
the imagination is the spectacle presented by nature. 
Before he is capable of becoming interested in the works 
of man, the child is already disposed to admire " the 
grand poem which the finger of God has written on the 
surface of the earth." 

" Often take children," says Gauthey, " to the bosom of nature, 
that they may there revel at will in colors, forms, and perfumes." ^ 

1 "New vases preserve the taste of the first liquor that is put 
into them; and wool, once colored, never regains its primitive 
whiteness." — Quintilian. 

2 Gauthey, De I'Education, Paris, 1854, Tom. I., p. 464. 



144 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

142. Pictures properly so called. — It is no longer 

necessary to call the attention to the importance of 
pictures and to the part which they may play in in- 
struction. On every hand the art of picture-making is 
being developed, and the representations of real objects 
are scattered everywhere, — upon the walls of our school- 
rooms, in works of standard literature, upon the covers 
of pupils' note-books. 

" Could we show objects to childi-en and have them touched 
and handled, it would doubtless be best ; but if objects are 
out of reach, or are of such a nature as to make direct pres- 
entation impossible, the teacher who can draw calls to his 
aid books of engravings, maps, or pictures.^ 

The picture, then, has gained for itself a place ; and 
since the day of Comenius, who in his Orbis Pictus was 
the first to employ it as a means of instruction, it has 
become popularized and at the same time perfected. 
Children love them ; there is no doubt on that point. 
"Some teachers assert that girls are even more fond of 
them than boys are. At any rate, pictures are the 
first poesy of childhood, and are to be commended in 
the first place because they furnish amusement and rec- 
reation. But they are also a means of developing the 
representative imagination, of fixing the attention, and 
of making study attractive. Finally, they are a school 
of positive instruction, and at the same time a prepa- 
ration for an education in art. 

143. The Creative Imagination. — The expression crea- 
tive imagination has the sanction of usage, but it is certainly 
inexact. The imagination acts, invents, arranges according 

1 Du Mesnil, Lettre a M. Jules Ferry, 1880, p. 21. 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. 145 

to its fancy, magnifies, contracts, modifies in a thousand 
ways the elements it borrows from reality, and groups the 
images furnished b}' the observation and the memory in 
accordance with an ideal which it conceives ; but in no true 
sense does it create. 

144. Does it Exist in the Child? — Whatever name we 
give it,^ — and we prefer to call it the active or inventive 
imagination, — it is developed at a quite early period. 
There comes a moment in the life of the child when the 
spirit is no longer merely a faithful memory and a passive 
reproduction of what the senses have perceived ; when from 
the shock of multiplied representations and from the clash 
of various images, there burst forth, under the stimulus of 
the sentiments, a certain number of new and original con- 
ceptions which attest the native fecundity of the spirit. Of 
course all infant intelligences are not alike in this respect. 
Perhaps to a greater degree than any other, the inventive 
faculty supposes a strength of intelligence and a power of 
sensibility which are very unevenly distributed by nature ; 
but it may be affirmed that, with equal intelligence, the child 
will have the most imagination who has read most, traveled 
most, observed most things, witnessed most spectacles, — 
who, in a word, has at his disposal most material which can 
be utilized in new combinations and constructions. 

Nothing is more varied, however, than the play of the 
childish imagination in the thousand pastures where it strays 
in pursuit of artless fictions and innocent falsehoods. 

145. Mythological Tendency. — At first, the child has 
a marked tendency to personify all the objects which sur- 

1 English psychologists call it the constructive imagination, in dis- 
tinction from the imagination that is simply reproductive. 



146 THEOEETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

round him, to represent them to himself after his own image, 
to enter into conversation with animals, and even with inan- 
imate things. His mental state is very like that of primitive 
people, who attribute life and feeling to material objects, 
and invest all things with human or divine qualities. " The 
sun has risen," a child was told. " Who then is its maid?" 
he asked. The Greeks believed that Apollo drove the 
chariot of the sun through the heavens. The little child 
imagines that the sun should be taken out for a walk by an 
attendant, just as he is himself. 

There is no great good to be expected from a tendency 
which renews for each child the ridiculous crudities and 
dangerous superstitions of the infancy of the race. How- 
ever, we may take advantage of this tendency in creating an 
interest in the reading of fables.^ The child, in order to 
enjoy La Fontaine, needs really to believe that the animals 
and plants speak, and that they are really the authors of 
the acts which the poet attributes to them.^ 

Notwithstanding Rousseau, who would have us show 
children only what is true, let us allow the little learner to 
wander off into fairy-land. The full day of reason will 
come soon enough to dissipate the shadows and phantoms 
of the imagination. 

146. Poetical Tendency. — The difference between the 
mythologist and the poet is that the former has an artless 
belief in the fictions of his imagination, while the later en- 
joys them without believing in them. The poet yields to a 

1 See the judicious article of M. Antoine (Fables) in the Diction- 
naire de PMagogie. 

- Gauthey gives an account of a little girl who, visiting a 
museum of natural history, asked to see some crickets, and two 
were shown her. " Which of these two crickets," she said, " is 
the one that had that talk with the ant ? " 



CULTUKE OF THE IMAGINATION. 147 

semi-illusion like that wliich we experience at the theatre. 
Without being wholly the dupes of the events which take 
place in the drama played before our eyes, we are partially 
deceived. We Ijecome interested in the characters of the 
play just as though they were real, and yet we know that 
they are not. 

" Children are born poets," says an observer of infancy ; 
" and this is why we must entertain them with poetical ideas." 

The childish imagination easily invents for itself fictions 
which charm it, and dramas where it assigns parts to im- 
aginary characters. The son of Tiedemann imagined con- 
versations between cabbage-stalks. "Children," says M. 
Egger, "contrive for themselves the instruments needed in 
then" little dramas." 

" We give them playthings for the purpose, but there are 
not enough of these for all the scenes which they imagine, 
and the same toy will often answer for several parts, and 
sometimes for very different ones." ^ 

Madame Necker de Saussure mentions a great number of 
instances which exhibit this poetical tendency of the child 
to represent to himself something besides what he has seen ; 
and she concludes thus : 

" The entire existence of little children is dramatic. Their 
life is a pleasing dream, purposely prolonged and sustained. 
Always inventing scenes, scene-painters, and actors, their days 
glide away in fictions, and in their childish fancies they are 
almost poets." ^ 

Far from discouraging this poetic instinct of the child, 
our only thought should be to give it free play. Thus, 
when he is weary of inventing fictions for himself, let us 

1 M. Egger, op. cit., p. 13. 

2 Madame de Saussure, I., III., Chap. V. 



148 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

purposely furnish him with them. Let us tell him those 
fabulous stories for which he is so hungry. Let us control 
his taste for imaginary things so as to direct it in our own 
way, and in this way let us superadd to the spontaneous 
development of the childish imagination the new excitation 
which comes from the imagination of another. 

147. Tales. — The austere Kant excludes tales from 
education. It is impossible to assent to his opinion. Tales 
bring joy to the spirit of the child, and joy forms a part of 
intellectual hygiene. Moreover, they arouse the intelligence, 
and, as Mr. Sully observes, the child who at home takes 
most delight in listening to stories will, other things being 
equal, do the best at school. Have no fear, then, of tales, 
real tales, even of those which have no moral pretension and 
conceal no serious lesson under their pleasing fictions. 

" When stories are told children," says Mile. Chalamet, " why 
not do it simply for the purpose of amusing them ? Why not 
be satisfied with telling a story for the story's sake, to satisfy 
the craving of the imagination for food?"^ 

It is not claiming enough, however, to recommend tales 
simply as amusements. If the}' are carefully chosen and 
are simple, delicate, and chaste, if there is nothing in them 
that is gross or in bad taste, stories will have a higher effect ; 
they will be for the teacher a sure means of fixing the atten- 
tion by interesting it ; they will be an allurement to future 
studies, and also a preparation for the understanding of real 
poetry, to which it is important that no man should be a 
stranger.^ 

1 L'Ecole maternelle, p. 234. 

2 " What is the origin of the singular taste that men have for 
fairy stories ? Is it because falsehood is pleasanter than truth ? 
No ; fairy stories are not falsehoods, aud the child who is amused 
or frightened by them is not deceived by them for an instant. 



CULTUKE OF THE IMAGINATION. 149 

148. Narratives. — But it would be an error to thiuk 
that the childish imagination can be exercised only by nour- 
ishing it on fictions, by alluring it into fairy-land. The 
imagination may be as well apphed, and even with greater 
profit, to what is actually real. 

" By far the most useful exercise of this faculty is when it 
buckles itself to realities ; and this I advise the student 
chiefly to cultivate. There is no need of going to romances 
for pictures of human character and fortune calculated to 
please the fancy and elevate the imagination. The life of 
Alexander the Great, of Martin Luther, of Gustavus Adolphus, 
or any of those notable characters on the great stage of the 
world who incarnate the history which they create, is for this 
purpose of more educational value than the best novel that 
ever was written, or even the best poetry." ^ 

In truth, history would be unintelligible without imagina- 
tion. In order that it may instruct the child, it must l»e 
like a series of pictures passing before his eyes, and his 
mind must dwell upon them as in a museum, where the 
attention is fixed now upon the portraits of great men and 
now upon the countries where the historical events have 
occurred. 

As soon as possible, therefore, we should pass from purely 
fictitious stories to narratives which are truthfully exact ; 
but in these narratives let us speak to the child in the 
language of the imagination, — that language in which, as it 
is said, the words have color. Let us expect no good result 
from instruction that is always dry and abstract, where the 
brilliant picture and vivid painting never come to animate 
and embellish facts. 

Stories are the ideal, something truer than the actual truth, the 
triumph of the good, the beautiful, and the true." (Laboulaye, 
Introduction to the Contes Ueus.) 
1 Blackie, op. cit, p. 13. 



150 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

149. Necessity of Poetky. — Rousseau, as we have said, 
would have us present to the child only the naked truth. 
This would be to exclude him forever from the enjoyment of 
poetry, which is made of fictions, and where the truth is 
always veiled. Certain positive spirits of our day might 
perhaps put up with this impoverishment of the imagination, 
but for oiu"selves we could not submit to such a sacrifice. 
There never will be enough poetry in the world, I do not 
say simply to embellish and cheer existence, but to elevate 
and ennoble it. Popular education cannot dispense with it, 
and it is especially in the common schools that we must open 
wide the doors to the poets. 

" It is in common school instruction more than in any other 
that fiction is beneficent, indispensable, and should have a 
large place. There, where the culture is perforce limited to what 
is strictly necessary, aims only at the useful, the practical, and 
ends early to give place to the positive needs of life, — it is 
there especially that it is important to throw a pure ray of 
poesy that may glitter, if possible, forever. For the child of 
the higher classes life, with its natural revelations, books, 
travel, the theatre, works of art, intellectual associations, will 
perhaps end in repairing the errors or supplying the deficiencies 
of early education ; but for the pupil of the common school life 
the most often holds in reserve only a long lesson of hard ex- 
perience, of dreary economy, and of prosy calcidation. If light 
is to cheer such an one, it must come from you. This is why 
it must be given him, and it must be as brilliant as possible. 
Verily the human soul is so constituted that it cannot dispense 
with fiction, or, even if you prefer it, with an ideal world. Save 
it from the stupid and dangerous marvels of superstition, — 
nothing is wiser ; 1 )ut do your very best to supply its place. If 
you do not, one of two things will happen. You will either 
succeed in shriveling the soul and in drying up the source of 
inner poesy, or, what happens much more frequently, you will 
snatch it from one dream only to plunge it into another, but 
perchance a still more dangerous one. Whoever has reflected on 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. 151 

the prodigious credulity of the socialistic utopist will easily 
comprehend our thought." ^ 

150. Romances. — Romances are the fairy tales of mature 
age, aud gvovvu persons find as much delight in them as a 
child does in the story of Cinderella or of the ass's hide. 
But without withholding them entirely from children, the 
reading of them must be carefully guarded. In every case, 
those that are put into the hands of cliildren must be selected 
with scrupulous care. Moral stories, like most English 
romances ; scientific stories, like those of Jules Verne ; and 
even romances of pure imagination, may be read without 
danger, and even with profit. 

151. Personal Creations of the Childish Imagina- 
tion. — The imagination of the child is not merely a con- 
templative faculty which is delighted with the pretty stories 
and inventions of others ; but it is also an active faculty 
which needs to create on its own account, which manifests 
itself by real productions, by personal constructions, at first 
in play and later in exercises in literary composition and in 
drawing. 

Before Froebel, Comenius had noticed that " childi'en love 
to build houses out of clay, chips, or stones." 
The Pere Girard writes : 

" The creative imagination, under the form of a mania for 
constructing or for destroying, is already apparent in tender 
years ; for if the little child wishes to give proof of his power 
to destroy, he loves also to produce, in his way, what is new 
and beautiful. Notice how he arranges his little soldiers, his 
houses, his sheep, and how he delights in his new combinations. 
He calls his mother that she too may enjoy them." ^ 

1 Article Fiction, by Dr. Elie Pocaut, in the Dictionnaire de Pe'da- 
gogie. 

2 The Pere Girard, De V Enseignement re'gulier de la langue mater- 
nelle, I., m., p. 88. 



152 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

152. The Imagination in Play. — It is in play that the 
child first gives proof ol" his nascent imagination. There 
he invents, combines at leisure, and freely abandons himself 
to the caprices of his fancy. 

It is to be noted that the playthings which most captivate 
the child are not those elaborate toys which, by their very 
perfection, leave his talent for invention nothing to do, but 
rather those which the best lend themselves to the develop- 
ment of his personal activity. 

" The child is ever intent on creating. A hole in the ground 
is a creation. Out of that dirt which comes from the hole, and 
which he heaps with his hands, the child raises mountains that 
appear to him of an incalculable height. A heap of dust rep- 
resents the architecture of fairies. 

" The penny doll which the child fancies to be so beautiful 
produces the same mirage. 

" The other, the rich doll arrayed in silk, needs nothing, and 
the child, conscious of this, disdains it. But that little creature 
whose only dower is its blue eyes, its placid face, its red cheeks, 
and the eternal smile on its cherry lips, what a power of imagi- 
nation is required to dress it in a rag of calico which shall be 
its robe, and a bit of tulle which shall be its neckerchief ! 

" The penny doll develops the imagination of the child, just 
as of yore the poet developed that of the people." ^ 

To the same effect Madame de Saussure calls attention to 
the fact that ' ' the playthings which the child invents are 
those which please him the most ;" and M. Egger says : 
" It is very true that instead of the toy so elaborate in form, 
the child often prefers something rude which his imagina- 
tion can transform according to his fancy. "- 

Let us be slow to check the child in the free and frank 
expansion of his imagination. After having been called 

1 M. Champfleury, Les Enfanls, p. 154. 

2 M. Egger, op. dt., p. 42. 



CULTUKE OF THE IMAGINATION. 153 

into play by the amusements of early life, it will be found 
ready for serious service in work and in study. 

153. Exercises in Literary Composition. — The work 
of literary composition no doubt calls into play all the facul- 
ties of the mind, memory, judgment, etc. ; but the imagina- 
tion also plays an important part, especially if a narrative or 
a description is to be written. At first it will be best to 
make an appeal simply to the representative imagination. 
The little story-teller, witli reference to such or such an in- 
cident of his life, will tell what he has seen, and will have 
simply to show that he has made a good use of his eyes. 
But gradually he will be accustomed to do more than this, — 
to invent, of his own accord to combine imaginary events. 
Provided we adapt the subjects to the age of the child, draw 
them from his own experience, and put him in a condition 
to find in his own recollections the materials of his composi- 
tion, he will joyfully devote himself to this personal labor. 

154. Drawing and the Arts. — Let us also mention, 
among the most natural exercises of the imagination, draw- 
ing, singing, and the fine arts in general. 

"With Pestalozzi," says Gauthey, " drawing was particularly 
an art of the imagination. Provided with a few data, his pu- 
pils invented all sorts of figures and combinations of figures, and 
they often reached very remarkable results in respect of origi- 
nality and elegance. 

*' Such an exercise forms the taste and the inventive spirit of 
children destined for very diverse occupations. The gai'dener, 
the locksmith, the cabinet-maker, the upholsterer, the mason, — 
all have need of the inventive faculty as well as of taste. To 
develop their powers in these directions is to prepare them for 
the greatest success in their several employnients." ^ 

1 Gauthey, op. cit, I., p. 47. 



154 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

155. Discipline of the Imagination. — From what has 
preceded it follows that there is a true schuhistic culture of 
the imagination.^ We have shown in particular how we 
may develop this faculty ; how by following nature we may 
succeed in exciting it. Let us not forget that the imagina- 
tion must also be disciplined, tempered, and controlled. 

" Nothing is more dangerous," said David Hume, " than 
the ardor of the imagination. Man of a powerful imagination 
may be compared to those angels whom the Scripture repre- 
sents as covering their eyes with their wings." 

In fact, the ardent conceptions of the imagination obscure 
the mind and conceal from us the truth. They exalt the 
emotions and precipitate us into the madness of the pas- 
sions. They benumb activity and throw us into an ener- 
vating revery. As a tempered imagination is useful and 
necessary for equipoise of spirit, by just so much is an excess 
of imagination fatal to good sense, to energy of character, 
and to rectitude of conduct. 

What means, then, may education employ for keeping the 
imagination within proper limits? The best is to invoke the 
aid of counter forces. To repress it directly, to make a 
straightforward attack upon it, is a difficult thing. It is 
wiser and surer to find a counteri)oise for it in the develop- 
ment of the reason and of the faculties that depend upon the 
reason. If you have to do with a child of exalted and 
inflamed imagination, call into its highest activity his power 
of observation and give ceaseless extension to his positive 
knowledge. You will never temper that ardent imagination, 
always prone to escape into the land of chimeras, save on 

1 M. Ilousselot is wrong in saying that " such is the nature 
of the imagination that it is not, to the same degree as the 
other intellectual faculties, susceptible of a special education, I 
mean of a scholastic training." {Pe'dcujogie, p. 125.) 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. ' 155 

the condition of putting it in cliarge of a vigorous reason 
and a judicious reflection, and of giving it, no to speak, good 
and reliable neighbors, by surrounding it with strong and 
disciplined faculties which guard it, whicli leave their im- 
press upon it, and which, while developing themselves, con- 
strain it to become one of them. 

Another means of governing the imagination and keeping 
it within bounds is to give it occupation, to furnish it with 
wholesome and nourishing aliment, so that it may not go in 
search of questionable food. 

" To exercise the imagination," says jMadame Xecker, " is as 
necessary as to hold it in check ; and perhaps we liold it in check 
only when we exercise it." 

Whatever we may do, we cannot destroy the imagination ; 
it is not possible to have it die of inanition. It would, more- 
over, be a great evil to dry up in man the fruitful source of 
so many beautiful and noble things. But, however we may 
regard it, the imagination is certainly an indestructible force 
of the soul. It is better, then, to have it for us than against 
us ; better to trace for it its channel than to run the risk, in 
abandoning it to itself, of seeing it pass its bounds in reck- 
less disorder. 

" ]\Iadanie de Saussure has shown tliat the imagination, that 
irresistible power, even when we think we have brought it un- 
der subjection, takes tlie most diverse forms; that it dissembles 
its real proportions, and with a secret fire animates the most 
wretched passions. If you refuse it air and liberty, it slinks 
off into the depths of selfishness, and, imder coarse features, it 
becomes avarice, pusillanimity, or vanity. 

"We also need to see with what benign earnestness Madame 
Necker spies its first movements in the soul of the child; with 
what intelligent care she seeks to make of it, from the very mo- 
ment of its birth, the companion of the truth : how she surrounds 
it with whatever can establish it witliin Ih ■ circle of thr^ good. 
The studies which extend our intellectual horizon, the spectacle 



156 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

of natui-e with its numberless marvels, the emotions of the fine 
arts, — nothing seems to her either superfluous or dangerous 
for directing the imagination in the good way. She fears to see 
it escape, through lack of pleasures sufficiently enticing, into 
other routes." 1 

156. Some Special Dangers to Shun. — Besides the 
great dangers to which a giddy or impetuous imagiuatiou 
subjects the mind and the heart, there are, even in the ordi- 
nary development of a mediocre imagination, certain rocks 
to shun. 

Thus it is important to prevent the child from confounding 
fiction with reality. It sometimes happens to us, when in 
our sleep we have been fiercely haunted by an impassioned 
dream, that we are obliged on awakening to make an effort 
to chase away the phantoms that beset our mind and to con- 
vince ourselves of our mistake. The child who as yet has 
no exact notions on the real and the possible, who is almost 
absolutely ignorant of the laws of nature, may easily be the 
victim of an analogous dupery of his imagination. Take 
care that he does not introduce pure fictions into the woof 
of his thoughts as so many notions that are true. Let us 
warn him, when we are relating a fable to him, not to give 
credence to our account. As M. Egger says, "Much time 
is necessary for the notion of the jnohable to be formed and 
fixed in his mind." Let us not allow ourselves to think that 
the very strangeness of our inventions is a sufficient guar- 
anty, and that it foils the credulity of the child. 

The excessive credulity of the child is a sufficient reason 
why we should proscribe all terrifying stories, such as those 
of the black man, w^hich unskilful and unwise teachers use 
in order to govern the child. 

"One of the things we most often forget is the effect of en- 

1 Preface to the Stb edition of the Education progressive. 



CULTURE OF THE IMAGINATION. 157 

tire ignorance. We call natural what we have already seen, 
and we do not perceive that for the child who has seen nothing, 
everything is equally natural. For him the possible is without 
limits." 1 

157. Revert. — Another vicious tendency of the imagi- 
nation is to lose itself in vague contemplations, and to 
resign itself to indolent and listless reveries. How often are 
we turned aside from serious attention, and from definite 
and determined action, by the uncertain phantoms which are 
floating in our mind? 

Revery may become a disease of the intelligence. Of 
course it is not to be supposed that there can be completely 
eliminated, even from the most studious and thoughtful con- 
sciousness, those parasitic conceptions of the imagination, 
any more than we can entirely extirpate noxious weeds from 
the best cultivated field. But for all that we must prevent 
revery from degenerating into a habit, and for this purpose 
we must as much as possible occupy the mind with the labor 
of consecutive and sustained reflection ; we must furnish the 
imagination with substantial aliment, such as beautiful verses 
which have been learned by heart, and grand deeds which 
occur to the memory the instant the mind has a moment's 
leisure. It is especially the unoccupied imagination that is 
disposed to revery. Give the imagination and the other 
faculties work to do, and you will cure the child of revery, 
that indolence of the thought. 

158. Importance of the Imagination. — One will per- 
haps be astonished at the importance which we have ascribed 
to the culture of the imagination. No doubt this faculty 
cannot be compared, for the services it renders, to the 
memory or the judgment. It is not to the same degree a ped- 

1 Madame de Saussure, op. cit, I., III., Chap. V. 



158 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

agogic faculty ; but we shall never concede to positive and 
exclusively scientific thinkers that there can be a possibility 
of sacrificing it. In all ages an important place has justly 
been given to it in instruction. In fact, the literary compo- 
sitions in use in colleges are in part but exercises of the im- 
agination. Let these be restricted in order to extend by so 
much the domain of real and exact knowledge, of facts and 
practical iustructiun. We are quite willing that this should 
be done, but pray do not presume to suppress them. 

"I much fear," says Mr. Blackie, "neither teachers nor schol- 
ars are sufficiently impressed with the importance of a proper 
training of the imagination. . . It is the enemy of science 
only when it acts without reason, — that is, arbitrarily and whim- 
sically; with reason it is often the best and the most indis- 
pensable of allies." ^ 

With certain children whose minds are languid and inac- 
tive, who are "born old," it is not enougii to exercise the 
imagination. It must be stinudated, not merely to awaken 
them to the poetic life, but also in the more modest interest 
of their success in practical affairs. In all eases tlie imngi- 
nation is one of the stimulants of activity, the inspirer of 
happy inventions, or at least the cause of useful expedients. 

1 Blackie, op. cit., pp. 12, 13. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION, JUDGMENT, ABSTRAC- 
TION, REASONING. 

159. Judgment and Reasoning. — To judge and to reason 
are distinct operations of the mind, irreducible to any other. 
In the activity of the intelligence there are three degrees, 
three essential moments : conceiving or having ideas, judg- 
ing or associating conceptions, reasoning or coml^iniug judg- 
ments. Just as judgment is the coupling of two ideas united 
by an act of affirmation expressed by the verb to be, so rea- 
soning is a sequence or a series of judgments united one with 
another in such a way that the last seems to be the legiti- 
mate conclusion and necessary consequence of those that 
precede. 

160. Definition of Judgment. — Judgment, in its psy- 
chological acceptation, is the essential act of thought, tlie 
life, so to speak, of the mind. It is in the judgment that 
ideas are united and made alive ; it is in the proposition, the 
verbal expression of the judgment, that words, the signs of 
ideas, are brought together and take bodily form. 

The judgment, moreover, dominates and embraces the 
otlier operations of the mind. In fact, judgments are the 
source of our ideas, and they also serve as conclusions to 
our reasonings. 

The perceptions of the senses and of the consciousness 
supply us with ready-made judgments, — primitive judg- 

159 



160 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

ments, so to speak, — from which the mind detaches, either 
immediately particular ideas, or, by a slow process of ab- 
straction, general ideas. 

But there are also reflective judgments, which suppose an 
attentive comparison of ideas previously acquired, and in 
which there is always mingled a beginning of reasoning, if 
not a complete and formal reasoning. 

161. Different Senses of the Word Judgment. — It is, 
then, in seizing the relations of ideas that consists the essen- 
tial function of what Rousseau called the "judicial faculty." 
But in ordinary usage the word judgment is often diverted 
from its ps^'chological meaning. 

Thus Madame Necker de Saussure uses the term judgment 
to signify nothing more than practical sense, good sense 
applied to the affairs of real life. 

" What it is very essential to develop," she says, " is that 
particular branch of the faculty of reasoning which is appli- 
cable to the conduct of life, — that which we are accustomed 
to call judgment." ^ 

Tins is to forget that the judgment is also employed in the 
sciences and in speculative research, and that the observer, 
the scientist, and the philosopher judge no less than the man 
of action. 

Another more common use of the word judgment consists 
in construing it in a still more restricted sense, as the syn- 
onym of good judgment. Language is easil}^ optimistic, 
and often gives to words their most favorable meaning. To 
say of some one that he has good judgment is to affirm that 
he has an accurate mind ; that he is deceived less often 
than others ; that he has, as it were, a natural affinity for 
the truths ; that he weighs things surely and well. And 

1 De I'Education progressive, I., VI., Ch. VI. 



THE FACULTIES OF KEFLECTION. .161 

this, of course, when it is a question of judgments that 
demand penetration and discernment. We do not say that 
a man has judgment because he is capable of affirming that 
snow is white or that fire burns. 

162, Importance of the Judgment. — It is in this sense 
that the Port Royal logic commends the judgment as the 
master quality of the mind. 

"There is nothing more estimable than good sense and ac- 
cm'acy of mind in the discernment of the true and the false. All 
the other qualities of the mind have limited applications, but 
exactness of reason is universally useful in all stations and in 
all the employments of life. ... So the principal endeavor should 
be to form one's judgment and make it as accurate as it can be ; 
and to this end should tend the greatest part of our studies. 
We use the reason as an instrument for acquiring the sciences, 
and, vice versa, we should make use of the sciences as instru- 
ments for perfecting the reason, accuracy of mind being in- 
finitely more valuable than all the speculative knowledge to 
which we can attain by means of the most accurate and well- 
established sciences." 

Port Royal certainly puts too low an estimate on the 
sciences and their positive results, the knowledge which they 
transmit ; but nevertheless there is no exaggeration in de- 
claring that the purpose of all study is the formation of the 
judgment, and that all the other faculties should be held 
subordinate to the judgment. Though having a great mem- 
ory, we may be incapable of getting on in life, and having 
a vivid imagination, there is ever danger of going astray ; 
but endowed with great judgment we move squarely forward, 
and there is no difficulty we cannot surmount. 

163. Culture of the Judgment. — So, since the days of 
Montaigne and Port Royal, the culture of the judgment has 
become, so to speak, the watchword of French pedagogy. 



162 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Even the most refractory have come to comprehend the im- 
portance of the judgment. In the preface to the new edition 
of the Coudnite des Ecoles chretiennes (1860), the Frere 
Phillip expresses himself thus : 

" Of late years elementary instruction has assumed a particu- 
lar feature which we must take into account. Proposing as its 
chief end the formation of the pupil's judgment, it gives less 
importance than heretofore to the culture of the memory ; it 
makes especial use of methods which call into play the intelli- 
gence and lead the child to reflect, to take account of facts, and 
to release him from the domain of words in order to introduce 
him into that of ideas." 

164. Judgment in the Child. — Judgment being insepa- 
rable from thought, the infant judges at a very early period 
of its life. Its first perceptions are already judgments, the 
afHrmation of what it sees and what it hears. It is not yet 
capable of reflective judgments, but it is of those spon- 
taneous judgments which are but the immediate adhesion of 
the mind to a perceived truth. Long before it is able to 
speak, i)erception determines for it little beliefs manifested 
by its gestures, its smiles, its movements. It judges that 
the candle burns when it has once been burned, and it draws 
back to avoid it. It judges that an object is within its 
reach, when it reaches out its hand to seize it. Doubtless 
it is often deceived in this appreciation of distance, but this 
error is also a judgment. 

"AVe may see by the various methods which young children 
employ to reach what is above them, to drag, to hurt, to lift 
different bodies, that they reason, — that is to say, that they adapt 
means to an end, before they can explain their own designs in 
words." 1 

We know, however, that the child, in his first attempts at 
1 Miss Edgeworth, Practical Education (London : 1811), II., p. 332. 



THE FACULTIES OF EEFLECTION. • 163 

speaking, does not at once succeed in giving an exact and 
complete expression to his judgments. Do not demand of 
him propositions in regular form. He usually suppresses 
the verb to &e, that logical copula of ideas in a sentence. 
The verb to he is, in some sort, an abstract verb. The 
child prefers attributive verbs, which are concrete. In de- 
fault of an actual verb, he invents one, as by transforming 
an adjective into a verb. He will say, Paul bads, instead 
of Paul is bad. The most often his judgment, when ex- 
pressed, will be but a simple juxtaposition of subject and 
attribute, as Paid wise, Paul bad. His repugnance at em- 
ploying the verb to be is equaled only by his awkwardness 
in making use of it ; and the same defect has been observed 
in the case of deaf-mutes, who when learning to write usually 
employ expressions like these : / am eat bread, for, 1 eat 
bread. But it must not be inferred from this insufficiency of 
language that judgment is incomplete in the child. It is 
only the verbal expression that is at fault. The child men- 
tioned by M. Taine, who instead of saying, Le solell se 
couclie, said, ga briile, coucou (ga briile, sometliing brilliant, 
like fire ; coucou, the act of setting) might have employed 
strange expressions, but he nevertheless formulated a very 
definite judgment. 

165. Reflective Judgments. — It is more difficult to say 
at what period in the life of the child the faculty of reflective 
judgment is developed. In order to attain this end it is 
necessary that the mind shall have ceased to he at the mercy 
of sensible perceptions, that it shall have g;iiiied possession 
of itself, that it shall have become capable of attention, and 
finally, that it shall have at its disposal not merely a large 
number of particular oltservations which are the materials of 
its reflections, but also of general ideas which supi)ly it with 
terms of comparison. 



164 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

The child is very prompt to seize resemblances, and his 
first personal judgments are founded on analogies, and most 
often these are superficial. M. Egger cites some interesting 
examples of these. 

" The son of a learned grammarian, of the age of five 
and a half years, said to his father, 'Are there feminine verbs? 
Why so ? Pondre is a feminine verb, for vpe always say elle (she) 
pond, never il (he) j^ond.'' " 

"At the age of four years and two months Emile sees that 
the window of a smoking-room is closed. He asks how the 
smoke will escape, and replies by pointing out the cracks left 
even when the window is closed. . . ' For,' says he, ' the smoke 
is cerji small ; it is like water ; when I put water in my hands 
it goes through there ' ; ' and he points out the interstices between 
his fingers." 

166. Earliest Education. — There is hardly any oppor- 
tunity for the intervention of the teacher in the elementary 
development of the child's judgment. That negative edu- 
cation which Rousseau preached, but which he was wrong in 
prolonging too far, — that which consists in letting nature 
have her way, and in simply preventing any evil influence 
from altering the normal course, — negative education is 
admirably adapted to the first years of childhood. The im- 
portant thing at this age is not so much to act upon the 
judgment by a special training, as to protect it from the 
gross errors and prejudices which, under cover of the igno- 
rance and credulity of the child, install themselves too easily 
in the mind, and there gain an indestructible hold. 

In what concerns primitive judgments, there is no other 
advice to give than that which relates to the education of the 
senses, whose purpose is to assure the clearness, exactness, 
and strength of the perceptions. As to the judgments of 
comparison, which indicate that real mental activity has 
already begun, it is best to show them indulgence, and not 



THE FACULTIES OF KEFLECTION. 165 

to be incensed because they are simple and even ridiculous, 
but rather to encourage them, because, however childish 
they may appear, they are the prelude of an infinitely pre- 
cious quality, the liberty of the spuit. 

167. School Training of the Judgment. — It might be 
said, not without reason, that the influence of the family is 
greater than that of the school upon the formation of the 
judgment. In fact, in the relative freedom of domestic life, 
the child, left a little more to himself, finds some occasions 
to observe and to exercise his mind. But it is none the less 
true that the child's studies, if wisely conducted, are ex- 
cellent exercises in personal reflection, and that in them 
there is a school training of the judgment. 

168. General Method. — In many German schools it is 
thought well to devote certain hours each week to the train- 
ing of the judgment. We do not quite understand what 
those classes in judgment can be, which remind us of the 
classes in virtue imagined by the Abbe de Saint Pierre. 
Can we conceive of a teacher saying to his pupils, "Now, 
boys, we are going to exercise ourselves in judging?" 

No, the education of the judgment ought not to be sought 
in special lessons ; it will result from all the exercises of the 
school. In fact, there is no instruction which cannot be 
employed, in the hands of a good teacher, in provoking the 
initiative of the pupil, in calling into pla}' his reflection, and 
in exciting the powers of the mind. If you resolutely avoid 
the processes of a mechanical instruction and of a passive 
education ; if you know how to appeal to the natural activity 
of the child ; if you encourage him by your questions to 
think for himself; if you "let trot" the young spirit before 
you ; the judgment of your pupil will be developed naturally, 
spontaneously, just as all the powers are developed when 



166 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

they are relieved from tlie bouds which hamper them, and 
they are left to pursue au unobstructed course. The more 
of liberty and life you introduce into studies, the more the 
pupil will exercise his judgment, and the more, consequently, 
he will develop his faculty of judging. 

169. Special Methods. — There are, however, some 
special precautions to be observed in forming the judgment, 
especially in the case of the youngest children, and by 
reason also of the diversity of natures. 

The judgment of the child is often timid, and it must be 
fortified. It is sometimes rash, and it must be checked and 
taught discretion. It is easy for it to be inaccurate, and it 
must be disciplined. 

170. Liberty of Judgment. — At first the child seems 
more disposed to accept with docility all that is taught him, 
than to manifest judgments of his own. Just as he has 
learned to speak by accurately repeating the words which he 
has gathered from the lips of his mother, he at first learns 
to think by repeating the thoughts of others. To remedy 
this inactivity of the mind, much dependence must be placed 
on nature and on progress in age. When he has passively 
acquired a certain amount of knowledge, the child will of 
himself come to compare his ideas and to grasp new relations 
between them. The duty of the teacher will consist chiefly 
in promoting in the child this natural tendency, in aiding 
him by presenting subjects for reflection adapted to his 
tastes, and in suggesting to him easy thoughts, through the 
comparison of similar objects or through the contrast of 
different objects. 

But if it is desirable that the teacher know how to stimu- 
late minds, it is above all necessary that he shun whatever 
may oppose and restrain their natui'al expansion. We are 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. • 167 

but too often responsible for the servilit}' of mind which wo 
condemn in our children. Hardly have they ventured an 
inaccurate judgment when we protest, grow angry, and 
humiliate them by remonstrances too harsh and too strong ; 
in a word, we discourage them, and for not having been 
indulgent enough to their first attempts, we disqualify them 
for thinking, or at least rob them of the desire to express 
their thouglits. Coldly greeted when they have attempted 
to make themselves understood, they will no longer dare to 
open their mouths ; ever after they will remain sliy ; they 
will be inert and passive, like children who no longer ven- 
ture to walk, if scolded too severely when they make their 
first false step. 

It is necessary, then, to fortify by constant stimulation the 
child's liberty of judgment, and to be careful not to dis- 
courage it when it goes astra}^ by ridicule or reprimands. 

171. Discretion in Judgment. — But no sooner have we 
succeeded in training the personal judgment of the child 
than we must be on our guard against striking another 
rock, — the misuse of judgment, or rashness in judgment. 
It is always thus in education ; the most precious qualities 
are no sooner developed than they are liable, if not watched, 
to engender grave faults. When a child has once been taught 
with great ditliculty to speak, a new anxiety is imposed on 
the instructor, — that of teaching him to keep silent. And 
so, when we have attained the important end of sliarpenino- 
the intelligence of the child, we must be on our guard lest it 
take too many liberties, lest it venture upon rash judgments, 
lest it become quizzing and loquacious. And th'.Mi there 
must be a change in metliod ; we must pursue a course 
almost the reverse of the one we have just recommended, 
and mildly check the free movement which we had provoked. 
The educating art, like military tactics, consists of marches 



168 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

and countermarches, vigorous forward movements followed 
by prudent retreats. 

" A perplexing problem in the training of children," says Mr. 
Sully, "is to draw the line between excessive individual inde- 
pendence and undue deference to authority." ^ 

The difficult thing is not to cut short the rashness of the 
child's judgment ; we can without difficulty make him blush 
at his presumption. The difficulty is in convincing him of 
his error, without throwing him into a confusion which would 
paralyze his courage. 

Even when he deceives himself the most grossly, let him 
develop his little thought, and try to comprehend it. And 
then do not be content with barely telling him that he is 
mistaken, but show him by apt and clear explanations in 
what respect and in what way he has been deceived ; lay 
before him the causes of his error ; make him understand 
that there are things which transcend his judgment, and 
that even in those of which he can judge he ought not to 
do so until after having carefully reflected. Finally, while 
leading him back to the truth upon the particular point of 
his mistake, guard him against falling into similar errors 
upon other points, through the fact of his thoughtlessness 
and lack of reflection. 

172. Accuracy of Judgment. — In putting the child on 
his guard against his disposition to form judgmeiits on 
matters of which he is ignorant, or of forming hasty judg- 
ments on things which he knows, much has already been 
done to assure the accuracy of his judgment. In fact, the 
cause of inaccurate judgments is most often either igno- 
rance, or thoughtlessness and precipitation. Hold the judg- 
ment of the child upon the things he knows well, and he will 

1 Sully, op. at, p. 443. 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. 169 

hardly ever be deceived. Be sure that he is attentive, and 
you will thus diminish the chances of error. 

" The true rule for forming correct judgments," said Bossuet, 
" is to judge only when we see clearly ; and the means of doing 
this is to judge with great attention." 

Another way of forming the personal judgment of the 
child is to begin by giving him a good comprehension of the 
judgments of others ; but only good models should be set 
before him. 

But here, as everywhere, we must rely upon the power of 
example. Present to the pupil only judgments which are 
trustworthy, and which have been rigorously tested. The 
terms in which they are expressed should be clearly ex- 
plained to him ; he should be obliged to consider the mean- 
ing of whatever he studies ; and in this way he will come 
insensibly to give exactness to his own personal judgments. 

173. Judgment and Abstraction. — A judgment is a 
mental construction, and, like every construction, it presup- 
poses materials. The materials of judgments are ideas, 
either particular ideas which simple perception accumulates, 
or abstract and general ideas which the mind elaborates. 
Just as the perfection of a construction depends in part on 
the quality of the materials which are employed in it, so 
the accuracy of a judgment is determined by the clearness 
and precision of the ideas which serve to form it. 

Let us, then, examine by what means the educator may 
assure the normal and rapid development of the faculties of 
abstraction and generalization. 

174. Abstraction and Generalization. — We do not 
separate abstraction and generalization. An abstract idea 
is in fact at the same time a general idea, — the idea of 
a quality common to several individuals, or the idea of a 



170 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

group of individuals which reseni))le one another by one or 
several common qualities, — for example, the idea of reason, 
or the idea of man. We do not generalize save as we 
abstract, and vice versa. The child considers apart a quality 
which in reality is united to other qualities. This abstrac- 
tion results either from an unconscious analysis or from an 
attentive and reflective analysis. He then finds this same 
quality in other objects ; and hence he is led to grasp in one 
simple and same mental glance, either that general quality 
in itself, or the persons or the things which possess it. But 
this is an incomplete description of the mental operations of 
the child ; it is necessary to give a nearer and more precise 
view of what takes place. 

175. Formation of General and Abstract Ideas. — 
Language certainly plays an important part in the formation 
of general ideas. This is not saying that it is necessary to 
coincide entirely with the absolute opinion of philosophers 
who assert that without the aid of words the child would be 
unable to grasp the relations of things ; but to say the least, 
words are necessary for fixing and defining abstract ideas, 
and for permitting the facile and rapid use of them. 

The child first learns a word which has been pronounced 
in his hearing and which designates an individual and deter- 
minate object, — the word ])apa, for example. Thereafter he 
will apply this term to his father, and also to other persons. 

Let a gentleman of about the same height, with a strong- 
voice and with similar clothes, present himself to him, and 
he will also address him by the name papa. The word was 
individual, but he makes it general ; he employs it not to 
designate a person, but to express a class. ^ There is, then, 

1 M. Janet justly remarks that the child generalizes the word 
papa more readily than the word mamma. 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. 171 

in the child an instinctive tendency to generalize, to seize 
the resemblances of things. 

Of course, if the child generalizes the individual words 
that we suggest to him, he also generalizes, and for a better 
reason, general terms. If he hears the term white applied 
to the paper which he sees, he will perhaps individualize this 
abstract term for a while, and in his mind whiteness will be 
applied at first only to paper, — it will be exclusively the 
whiteness of paper ; but the child will soon come to employ 
the same word to express the whiteness of all other white 
objects. 

176. General Ideas before Language. — Words are 
thus the essential agents in the work of generalization, 
which takes place very early in the mind of the child ; but 
careful observation proves that the child is capable of 
generalizing even before he has learned to speak. 

It could not be otherwise, since animals themselves have 
the rudiments of general ideas. Dogs, for example, clearly 
distinguish beggars, at whom tliey must bark, from all those 
who are not beggars, and who must be allowed to enter. So 
the infant exhibits a preference for young and pretty faces, 
and thus outlines a process of generalization. M. Perez 
mentions the case of a child eight months old, that had for 
a favorite toy a tin box provided with an opening into which 
he stuffed whatever would enter it. The moment any object 
whatever was given this child, he would turn it over in all 
directions to find an openiug in it ; "■ he thus had the general 
idea of that property of opening and capacity which he had 
perceived in several objects, and which he sought for 
in all."i 

177. The Child's Tendency to Generalize. — How- 

1 M. Perez, Psychologie de Venfant, 2d ed., p. 234. 



172 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

ever, it is when the child has learned to speak that his instinct 
to generalize becomes particularly manifest. As we have said, 
he has a marked tendency, by reason of the vivacity of his 
memory, to seize resemblances, and even, by the aid of his 
imagination, to invent them. He generalizes in defiance of 
every rule, of every established classification. He con- 
structs new classifications, sometimes very original, based on 
superficial analogies and far-fetched, vague resemblances. 

On this point the observers of children cite a great number 
of examples. An English child who had learned the mean- 
ing of the word qnack (duck), employed the word indifferently 
to designate water, all sorts of birds, insects, and liquids, 
and even coins, because on a French piece of money he had 
noticed an eagle. These indiscriminating and misleading 
generalizations are no doubt due, in the first place, to the 
poverty of the child's vocabulary. The child is like a man 
who, not having many dishes, eats all parts of his repast 
from the same plate ; likewise he forces several meanings 
into one single word. It is thus that the Romans called 
elephants oxen of Lucania. But they are not merely reasons 
of economy that govern the child. If he transfers words 
from one meaning to another, it is because he has a marvel- 
ous aptitude for discovering among things resemblances 
which escape even the perspicacity of the mature man. 

" A little girl two and a half years old had on her neck a 
consecrated medal. She had been told, ' It is the good God.' One 
day, seated on her uncle's knee, she took his eye-glass and said, ' It 
is my uncle's good God.' A little boy a year old had traveled 
several times on a railroad. The engine with its whistling 
and smoke had struck his attention. The first word lie had 
pronounced was fafer (chemin de fer) ; and after that a 
steamboat, a coffee-pot, — all objects that hiss, make a racket, 
throw out smoke, — were for him fofers." ^ 

1 M. Taine, Be V Intelligence, Tom. II. 



THE FACULTIES OF KEFLECTION. 178 

178. What are we to Think of the Child's Repug- 
nance FOR Abstraction ? — The first pedagogical conclusion 
that can properly be drawn from these facts is that the repug- 
nance of the child for generalization and abstraction is only 
apparent. What he does not like is abstractions which he 
cannot resolve, which are presented to him too early or 
imposed on him without preparation, — abstractions which 
he does not comprehend, because he has not conceived them 
himself by a spontaneous effort of his own mind. Put him 
in the presence of things, bring together before him objects 
of the same kind, and his instinct to generalize will readily 
find free scope. In order to teach him general terms, wait 
till he has collected experiences enough, and has had under 
his eyes concrete examples enough to comprehend with 
exactness their meaning. Particularly do not require him 
all at once to make abstractions and generalizations in the 
domain of moral ideas. Direct this reflection towards sen- 
sible things, the only ones which are as yet accessible to 
his intelligence. 

179. Abuse of Abstraction in Teaching. — For a long 
time there has been an abuse of abstraction in teaching ; 
for example, in grammar, when definitions and rules have 
been made to precede examples, and when in general the 
child was harassed by a multitude of general terms which he 
does not comprehend, or which he only partially compre- 
hends. The following is a logical order, perhaps ; but it 
was going counter to the order of nature. This vicious 
method is now discountenanced. Mr. Bain remarks that it 
is now a rule universally recognized, that in order to reach 
a general or abstract idea, the essential preparation is a 
knowledge of the particular facts. 

180. Importance of General or Abstract Ideas. — In 



174 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

order to react against the abuse of abstraction, it is not 
necessary to banisli it from the scliool, or even to postpone 
it. If abstract ideas are the most difficult of all to acquire, 
they are at the same time the most important. Particular 
intuitions have no value save on one condition, that they 
gradually lead the mind up to the general ideas which govern 
and include them. Do not let us tarry too long in the edu- 
cation of the senses, which should really be but an intro- 
duction to abstract thought. It would amount to nothing to 
make a multitude of particular objects pass before the eyes 
of the child, if at the same time he were not made to form 
the habit of generalization. 

181. Difficulties of Abstraction. — That which makes 
the process of abstraction complicated and difficult for the 
child is that generalization admits of different degrees. If 
it were a question merely of the first general notions, — those 
which issue spontaneously, so to speak, from the comparison 
of objects which are sensible and familiar to the child, — his 
instinct, as we have said, would suffice of itself to lead him 
there. But these generalizations, compared one with an- 
other, give rise to new generalizations, higher and more 
abstract. As a rule, we are not careful enough to make the 
mind ascend these different steps one after another ; we 
neglect the intermediate steps, and plunge the child too 
quickly into the highest abstractions. 

The difficulty is aggravated by reason of the impossibility, 
in respect of a great number of abstract ideas, of presenting 
to the eyes of the child the particular objects whose relations 
they express. How many general ideas there are which can 
be communicated to the child only through words ! And he 
has great difficulty in understanding these words, because 
they surpass the range of his imagination. Now, there is no 
lesson, however elementary it may be, either in grammar, 



THE FACULTIES OF KEFLECTION. 175 

in geography, in liistory, or in arithmetic, that does not 
require the use of a great number of those abstract terms, 
for which the child has made no corresponding intuitive 
preparation. 

In a word, if the first steps in the field of generalization 
and abstraction are easy ; if the child takes pleasure in classi- 
fying and grouping in the domain of material objects ; prog- 
ress is difficult, and there is required a real intellectual 
effort to rise to higher conceptions, to succeed in handling 
abstractions themselves, and to detach them from every 
association with particular objects and sensible realities. 

182. Pedagogical Rules. — 1. The first rule, as we have 
said, is that abstraction should always be preceded by cor- 
responding intuitions. It is necessary to follow the methods 
which English teachers recommend under the title of 
methods of juxtaposition and of the accumulation of 
examples, — methods which consist in collecting objects ; in 
placing them in symmetrical juxtaposition, in order the 
better to bring out the resemblances ; in multiplying ex- 
amples, and in choosing them in such a way that the interest 
is not directed to their particular characteristics and that 
the attention is made to bear upon theu' relations. 

Mr. Bain dwells on the choice of examples in these 
terms : 

" The number and the character of objects," he says, " must 
also be taken into account. They may be too few, or they may 
be too many ; they may even have the effect of obstructing the 
growth of the general idea. 

" The selection must be such as to show all the extreme varie- 
ties. Identical instances are not to be accumulated ; they 
merely burden the mind. Varying instances are necessary to 
show the quality under every combination. To bring home the 
abstract property of soundness, or the circle, we must present 
concrete examples in varying size, color, material, situation, 



176 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

and circumstances. To explain a building we must cite in- 
stances of buildings for all kinds of uses." ^ 

Mr. Bain is wrong in giving the first place to extreme 
varieties. It is better to present to the child, for each class 
of objects, average specimens in which the characteristics 
common to the whole class appear in some relief, and are 
not obscured by particulars that are too striking. In other 
words, it is necessary to aid the child's effort at generaliza- 
tion, by assisting his mind in making an easy transition 
from one object to another. Extreme varieties, separated 
by too wide an interval, would certainly hinder the percep- 
tion of resemblances ; they should be the last presentations 
made. 

As to the number of examples, it varies in different cases. 
Mr. Bain remarks that for certain notions, as that of a 
simple quality, — weight, for example, — one or two ex- 
amples are sufficient, while it is necessary to collect a large 
number to give an exact idea of large classes of objects, 
such as houses, plants, etc. 

2. A second rule consists in graduating the generali- 
zations.^ It is necessary that the child, when presented with 
an abstract idea of the first grade, should be able to indicate 
the individuals which compose it ; but it is also necessary, 
when he rises to a generalization of a higher degree, that he 
should be able to decompose it by giving an account of the 
simpler, more elementary ideas which serve to support it. 
An aggregate of alistracf ideas is like a vast machine whose 
parts work into each other. In order that the machine work, 
it is of the first importance that no part be wanting, and that 
all the intermediate parts be in their place. 

3. Finally, it is necessary to guard the use of words, to 

1 Education as a Science, p. 193. 

2 Sec the article Abstraction, by M. Buisson, in the Dictionnaire 
de Pedagogic. 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. 177 

define with exactness all the terms which we employ in the 
instruction of the child. The pupil is only too much in- 
clined to be content with a vague and confused notion of 
general terms. This natural indolence should be corrected ; 
the pupil should be enlightened by exact definitions ; and he 
should be required to give proof of his understanding, either 
by em[)loying s3'nonymous expressions or by giving par- 
ticular examples included under the abstraction which has 
been defined. 

183. Reasoning. — The process of abstraction, of gener- 
alization proper, which has to do with ideas and concep- 
tions, is one thing ; and reasoning, which associates and 
combines judgments, is quite another. It is not required to 
recall in this place what the psychologists teach us of the 
nature of this operation and of its two different forms, in- 
duction and deduction.^ Nor have we to dwell on the rules 
which logic prescribes for reasoning. Our object is simply 
to show how education develops and cultivates the child's 
power of reasoning. 

184. Importance of Reasoning. — It is easy to compre- 
hend the importance of this intellectual operation. Without 
reasoning, knowledge would be restricted to the narrow 
circle of the immediate intuitions of the reason and of the 
direct perceptions of experience ; the human intelligence 
would be prohibited from passing beyond the limited horizon 
of the senses and of consciousness, and of conceiving the 
general laws which constitute science, and by means of which 
the mind emln-aces the entire uniA'erse. 

On the other hand, we must not forget that reasoning 
may be abused ; that too much logic misleads and deceives 

1 See our article Baisonnement in the Bictionnaire de Pedagogie. 



178 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

us ; and finally, that what Moliere said of the house of 
the Femmes Savanles may as truly be said of the mind : 

" How reasoning banishes reason from it ! " 

185. Reasoning in thp: Child. — Locke is of the opinion 
that the eliild is capable of reasoning, and that he listens to 
reason as soon as he can speak. 

Condillac, a disciple of Locke in philosophy, is inspired by 
the same pedagogical doctrine. 

" It has been proved," he says, " that the faculty of reason- 
ing begins as soon as our senses begin to develop, and that we 
have an early use of our senses only because we have an early 
use of our reason. . . . The faculties of the understanding are 
the same in a child as in a grown man. . . . We see that 
children begin early to grasp the analogies of language. If they 
are sometimes deceived in this, it is none the less true that 
they have reasoned." 

And Condillac goes so far as to compare this instinctive 
initiation of the child into his native language with the 
reasoning of Newton, discovering by a series of inductions 
and deductions the system of the world ! 

Our reply to Condillac and Locke is that they have both 
failed to recognize the general and abstract element in 
reasoning, and that they confound the higliest forms of the 
highest intellectual operation with its lower forms, with 
the thoughtless inferences which may be observed even in 
animals. 

Doubtless there is a sense in which the child reasons ; but 
he does this almost without knowing it, almost uncon- 
sciously. Moreover, his reasoning bears only on the par- 
ticular and sensible objects which he perceives every day. 
Do not require him to reason on abstract ideas. When he 
grasps the analogies of language he obeys an instinctive 
logic. The child of tkree or four years will persist in say- 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. • 179 

ing a le cheval, a le jardin, because he has heard people say 
a la vache, a la 2>^'otnen.ade ; he will reduce the number of 
conjugations and say hatter instead of battre, because he has 
learned that most verbs are conjugated Hive aimer. 

Gradually, however, the child becomes capable of real 
reasoning, that which implies attention, mental effort, and 
the conscious concatenation of judgment and ideas ; and this 
process of reasoning appears rather early in children well 
endowed. 

186. Education of the Reason. — For the reason, as 
for the judgment, there is not, properly speakijig, any 
special training ; but in whatever he teaches the child, — 
grammar, history, the sciences, etc., — the teacher may 
habituate the child to reason, and ought to do so. 

'- There is no subject of study which may not in the hands 
of an intelligent and efficient teacher be made helpful to this 
result. Thus the study of physical geography should be made 
the occasion for exercising the child in reasoning as to the 
causes of natural phenomena. History, again, when well taught 
may be made to bring out the learner's powers of tracing an- 
alogies, finding reasons for events (e. g.. motives for actions), 
and balancing considerations so as to decide what is probable, 
wise, or just in given circumstances." ^ 

However, the teaching of the sciences remains the grand 
instrument for the education of tlie reason. In fact, the 
sciences are but aggregates of general knowledges, rigor- 
ously based on exact deductions and orderly inductions, 
presented in a methodical and logical order, and expressed 
with precision. There could not be a better school for the 
faculties of reflection. In studying the physical scienc, s the 
student accustoms himself to generalize and to make in- 
ductions with caution, and in striving to comprehend the 

1 Sully, op. cit., p. 445. 



180 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

demoustrations of the mathematical sciences he learns to 
make rigorous deductions. 

187. Particular Tendency towards Induction. — The 
child is more inclined to induction than to deduction ; just 
as, when he alters the meaning of words, he generalizes 
them in their signification, rather than specializes them. It 
is easy to understand, in fact, that the mind at the first 
prefers to rise from the particular to the general, rather than 
to descend from the general to the particular. The thoughts 
of the child are almost all individual ; he has at his command 
only a small stock of general knowledge. Now all deduc- 
tion supposes general principles, universal truths. From 
this fact there follows this pedagogical conclusion, that the 
inductive sciences are best adapted to the first ^^ears of 
instruction. Educators are in error who, like Diderot, would 
begin with mathematics. 

188. Moderation Recommended. — "Reasoning with 
children," says Rousseau, " was tlie great maxim of Locke, 
and it is the one chiefly in vogue to-day For my- 
self, I see nothing more silly than those children with whom 
one has reasoned so much." Rousseau would have a child 
remain a child. 

No doubt we should distrust precocious reasoners ; but 
this should not make us fall into the opposite error, which 
Rousseau was wrong in recommending, through his desire to 
retard beyond measure the development of the reasoning 
faculties. Locke was wiser when he wrote : 

" I think I may say there is not so much pleasure to have 
a Child prattle agreeably as to reason well. Encom-age, there- 
fore, his inquisitiveness all you can, by satisfying his demands 
and informing his judgment, as far as it is capable. When 
his reasons are anyway tolerable, let him find the credit and 
commendation of it. And when they are quite out of the way, 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. 181 

let him, without being laughed at for his mistake, be gently 
put into the right ; and if he shows a forwardness to be 
reasoning about things that come his way, take care, as much 
as can, that nobody check this inclination in him, or mislead 
it by captious or fallacious ways of talking with him. For 
when all is done, this, as the highest and most important 
faculty of our miiids, deserves the greatest care and attention 
in cultivating it. The right improvement and exercise of our 
reason being the highest perfection that a man can attain to 
in this life." ^ 

189. Special Exercises in Reasoning : Deduction and 
THE Syllogism. — Though the training of the reason is for 
the most part the natural result of the studies pursued and 
of the manner in which they are taught, it is not without use 
to propose to the child some special exercises iu reasoning. 

In ordinary discourse the reasonings are rarely expressed 
under the perfect form of a syllogistic argument. Conse- 
quently it is very useful to drill pupils in discovering, in 
carefully chosen examples, the different elements of the 
syllogism, as the conclusion, when only the premises are 
stated, or that one of the premises which, in the rapidity 
of the argument, has been left understood. By this means 
the pupil will acquire the habit of disentangling the error 
in the reasonings, often uncertain and ambiguous, of which 
the discourses of men are composed. Without needing to 
resort to the learned rules for deduction, but simply from 
having reconstructed the syllogism in its three propositions, 
an attentive mind will easily discover whatever of the false 
or the equivocal has slipped into the reasoning. 

First, here are examples of arguments in which the pupil 
will have to supply one of the fundamental propositions 
which are necessary to assure their validity. 

1 Locke, op. cit., § 122. 



182 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

190. To Find the Premise which is Lacking in the 
Following Reasonings : — There is anger that is not blame- 
worthy. What other premise do you need to infer that 
certain passions are not blameworthy? 

Suppose a man says, " I detest foreigners." Find an- 
other premise, which joined with this assertion authorizes 
the conclusion, " No foreigner deserves to" be loved." 

Solon ought to be considered a wise legislator, because he 
adapted his laws to the character of the Athenians. 

A slave is a man : he ought not, then, to be a slave. 

Rousseau was a man too ardent not to commit many 
errors. 

The eruptions of volcanos and earthquakes cannot be 
considered as warnings sent by God to tlie wicked, since 
these scourges overtake both the innocent and the guilty. 

191. To Find the Conclusion Intolved in the 
Following Assertions : — I know that A, B, and C are 
blockheads, and at the same time educated men : have I 
the right to draw any conclusion from this? 

No science can be absolutely perfect, and yet all the 
sciences deserve to be cultivated. 

Prejudices indicate a weak mind, and we sometimes meet 
with prejudices in men who are very well educated. 

192. To Reduce the Following Arguments to the 
Syllogistic Form : — Poetry is not a science. The essen- 
tial characteristics of a science are truth and generality ; 
and poetry has neither. 

No war is for a long time popular, because war alwaj's 
brings an increase of taxes, and whatever is prejudicial to 
our interests enjoys but a passing popularity. 

Of two evils we must chose tiie least : so a temporary 
revolution being a smaller evil than a permanent despotism, 
should be preferred to it. 



THE FACULTIES OF REFLECTION. 183 

In the examples which we have just proposed, the effort 
of the pupil should be directed to three poiuts : 1 . To set 
forth the conclusion with clearness, — that is, the thing to 
be proved, in such a way as to distinguish in a proposition 
the major term from the minor term; 2. To discover the 
middle term of the argument, of which there should be only 
one in every conclusive syllogism ; 3. To determine with 
exactness the two premises, one of which connects the 
major term with the middle term, and the other the minor 
term with the middle term. 

The syllogism once reconstructed, natural good sense 
usually suffices to determine the value and legitimacy of the 
argument. If there remains an}' doubt, it would l)ecorae 
necessary to apply the rules of logic to the suspected 
syllogism ; and if it violates none of these rules, it is 
legitimate and conclusive. 

193. Inductive Reasoning. — In order to make pupils 
clearly understand the mechanism of inductive reasoning, 
their attention must be called to the three essential points 
in every induction: 1. The conclusion, which ought to be a 
proposition, an affirmation proving that two facts agree or 
do not agree ; 2. The character of generality in this prop- 
osition, which should be applicable to all the cases of a 
given order ; 3. The metJiod employed in order to arrive at 
this general proposition, a method which is an appeal to 
observation and to facts. 

An exact idea of the general propositions which are tlie 
result of every legitimate induction will be gained by taking 
examples in the different sciences. 

The magnet attracts iron (pin'sics). 

Bodies fall in a vacuum (physics). 

Bodies expand under the influence of heat (physics) . 

The simplest substances are those which manifest the 
strongest affinities (chemistry) . 



184 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Compounds are more fusible than elements (chemistry). 

The temperature; of boiling water destroys animal life 
(physiology) . 

The red corpuscles of the blood are charged with 
carrying oxygen to the tissues (physiology). 

Feeling is always united to the will and to the intelli- 
gence (psychology). 

Fear enfeebles the faculties (psychology). 

The more vivid the consciousness, the more tenacious 
the memory (psychology). 

The development of the brain corresponds to the de- 
velopment of the muscles, and in general of all the organs 
(zoology). 



CHAPTEE IX. 

CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 

194. Moral Education. — Intellectual education is 
surely the best of preparations for moral education. What- 
ever is done for developing the intelligence is far from 
being lost, so far as the culture of the sentiments, of the 
moral consciousness, and of the will is concerned. In a 
well-organized intelligence, all whose faculties have received 
the education appropriate to their destination, the moral 
qualities of the character germinate spontaneously. The 
man merely instructed is sometimes a bad man ; but we 
doubt whether the same thing is true of a man well 
educated intellectually. A tempered imagination, a power- 
ful attention, and a sound judgment, are reliable barriers 
which vouch for the ardor of the passions and prevent 
the errors of conduct. 

It is none the less true that intellectual education is not 
sufficient, but that the other faculties also demand a special 
culture. The man of feeling has no less value than the 
man of intellect. "We are not destined merely to know and 
comprehend, but are also made to feel and love. Moral 
education is, then, to be distinguished from intellectual 
education, and its first purpose ought to be the culture 
of the feelings. 

195. Complex Nature of the Feelings. — Nothing so 
various, nothing so complex, as the psychological facts 

186 



186 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

which philosophers connect with the feelings. It is spe- 
cially here, in the presence of these phenomena so diverse, 
which are the elements of all the virtues and all the vices 
of humanity, — in the presence of the manifestations of 
what is humblest, grossest, and also most elevated and 
ideal in the human soul, — it is here that it is meet to 
summon before us, in order to reconcile them, the extreme 
opinions of those who say with Rousseau that everything 
is good in man, and with Hegel that everything is bad. 

Tlie feelings are the common source whence the most 
degrading passions and the most elevated sentiments borrow 
their aliment. It is to them that are beholden at the 
same time, the sensualist who forgets himself in bodily 
pleasures, the selfish man who is absorbed in the pursuit 
of personal good, the bad man who sacrifices everything 
to his vindictive spirit, the man devoted and good, who has 
no pleasure but in making others happy, the friend, the 
patriot, the philanthropist, who deny themselves in order 
to serve the objects of their pious affection. 

From this very diversity of the phenomena of the feel- 
ings, it follows that the function of education is twofold. 
On the one hand it must temper or even repress dangerous 
inclinations and bad passions, and on the other stimulate 
and develop the beautiful and noble elements in our 
emotional nature. 

196. Division of the Inclinations. — The most of 
psychologists agree in distributing the inclinations or 
emotions into three classes : 

1. The personal or individual inclinations, which have 
for their object the me and whatever is directly connected 
with it: such are the pleasures of self-love and of ambition. 
They are all included under one term, — selfishness. 

2. The sympathetic or benevolent inclinations which 



CULTUKE OF THE FEELINGS. 187 

attach us to others, and for which the positivist school 
has invented the barbarous term altruism : such are the 
affections in general, as patriotism and love of humanity. 

3. The higher inclinations, whose object is abstract 
ideas, as the love of the true, the beautiful, and the good. 

Among these different manifestations of the feelings, 
the last form a class wholly distinct, — they pertain to 
what is highest in human nature, to ethics, to science, to 
art. We shall study them by themselves. At present we 
shall examine in their natural development and pedagogical 
treatment only the selfish and the benevolent inclinations. 
And at the first we shall throw into strong relief the 
inclinations which properly constitute the benevolent 
feelings, — love for others, in one word, the heart, through 
which, as the Pere Girard has said, " man is all that 
he is." 

197. The Education of the Heart too often Neg- 
lected. — For a long time the psychologists have given 
the feelings their proper rank in the list of the human 
faculties ; but it seems that they have found it difficult 
to make themselves understood by teachers. In fact, 
open most of the works on pedagogy, and you will find 
that the chapter on the heart is generally omitted. And 
on this point the practice conforms only too closely to the 
theory. How many schools there arc in which no effort 
is made to cultivate the emotions, the sympathetic senti- 
ments, — all which makes men good, sociable, loving, 
and devoted ! 

Even more, it has occurred to certain writers to mention 
this omission as a merit in educators who should deem 
such a compliment a reproach. This quotation from M. 
Guizot is an example : 

" The almost absolute silence which Montaigne has main- 



188 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

tained on that part of education which pertains to forming the 
heart of the pupil, seems to me a new proof of his good 
judgment." ^ 

198. Necessity op this Education. — We cannot 
assent to such an assertion ; and it seems to us that the 
heart has as good a right as the mind to a special 
training. 

And first, do we need to prove that the heart is worth 
at least as much as the mind, and that the feelings deserve 
tlie care of the educator? Is it not evident that duty 
itself ought the most often to be placed under the keep- 
ing of emotion? There is no virtue really secure, save 
that which is founded on the love of virtue. "He alone 
is virtuous," said Aristotle, " who finds pleasure in being 
so." No doubt we should distrust men who, like Rous- 
seau, look onl}' in their hearts for the principles of their 
conduct. The heart should be governed by reason, and 
an ardent sensibility may be allied with the strangest 
freaks of judgment and conduct. But let us also distrust 
characters that are unfeeling, too rational, which are 
moved only by cold reflection. They will make more 
mistakes than we think, unless sentiment comes to their 
relief. 

Moreover, there are several of our affections which form 
an integral part of our duties. To love one's family, 
one's friends, one's country, is not only the source of 
the most delicate pleasures and the sweetest joys of life, 
but is also the first duty of a virtuous man. 

199, Particular Difficulties in the Education of 
the Sentiments. — One of the reasons why educators are 
generally silent upon the nature of the heart, is probably 
the particular difficulty of this part of education. 

1 Meditations et Etudes morales, p. 404. 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 189 

We cannot give lessons in sensibility as we give lessons 
in reading or arithmetic. " Affection," says Miss Edge- 
worth, " is not learned by heart." The teacher holds in 
his hands the means of exciting the intellectual powers 
of the child ; he places objects before his eyes, com- 
municates knowledge to him through language, and in 
a manner acts directly upon the faculties of the soul ; 
but he has not the same power over the sentiments. We 
cannot command a child to be moved, as we requke 
him to be attentive. 

Besides, the great diversity which nature puts into 
human feelings complicates the problem still more. The 
heart, much more than the mind, is a natural endowment. 
Common opinion, and it is not wholly false, declares that 
we are born tender or unfeeling, affectionate or cold. 
Education seems powerless to warm up certain souls, to 
endow them with the life of the affections. 

Notwithstanding these ditliculties, there is an art of 
cultivating the feelings ; and this art consists chiefly in 
placing the soul of the child in circumstances that are 
the most favorable for the complete development of 
his natural disposition. 

200. Development of Sympathy in the Child. — 
Originally, the child is but a bundle of selfishness ; and 
it is from this selfishness that there is gradually disen- 
gaged sympathy, the faculty of loving. 

Very early the child evinces sympathy or antipathy, 
not only in respect of persons and animals, but also of 
inanimate things. 

His toys, his wooden horses, his rubber- cats, inspire 
him with the tenderest affection ; and, on the other hand, 
he sincerely hates whatever hurts him or wearies him. 
"The switch and the wash-rag," says M. Perez, " are 
to hiin personal enemies." 



190 TIIEOllETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

It is easy to prove that the earliest sympathies of 
the child are bestowed ouly on the persons who have 
given him a personal pleasure. A babe of six months 
will as yet bestow a smile only on its nurse and its 
attendant, — on its nurse, because she recalls to it the 
pleasing impressions of nourishment ; and on its attend- 
ant, because she soothes and caresses it. 

Habit and familiarity also play an important part in 
the development of the nascent affections, in the edu- 
cation of a sensibility that takes fright at whatever is 
new and unknown. 

Later, when to the pleasures of taste and touch there 
are added those of sight and hearing, the sympathy 
provoked by these new sensations, agreeable or disagree- 
able, is extended to sonorous or colored objects, to 
animals, for example, which, by the grace of their move- 
ments or the vivacity of their cries, give to the sight or 
the hearing of the child the occasion of agreeable ex- 
citement. 

In a word, sympathy follows step by step the suc- 
cessive manifestations of the pleasures of sense. 

201. General Characteristics op Infant Sensi- 
bility. — The sensibility of the child has the same limits 
as his intelligence. The child bestows his thought only 
on actual things ; his memory goes back hardly beyond 
the moment that has just passed ; he cannot extend liis 
inductions into the future. And so his pleasures and his 
pains are restricted, so to speak, to the present hour. 

Hence at once the vivacity and the fugitive brevity of 
the child's emotions. His sensuous life is made up of 
momentary passions, sudden tears and smiles, violent 
pains, unexpected caresses, — in a word, of emotions that 
are as ardent as they are transient. We can see, in fact, 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 191 

that, being determined solely by the presence of objects, 
the feelings of the child are quickly excited, but, on the 
other hand, they extend no deep roots, they remain on 
the surface, and are not fixed in the soul. The child is in 
ecstasies over a trifle ; with the spring of his young and 
supple powers he gives himself up to his joys and his 
sorrows. He bursts out in laughter, or he sheds floods 
of tears. He stamps with impatience and anger. But 
all this fire is quenched as soon as lighted. The moment 
the object is withdrawn or disappears, there is hardly a 
trace of the feeling left in him. As yet there is not 
enough power of thought in the mind of the child to re- 
tain and perpetuate the emotion. "As soon as new 
objects and new impressions present themselves to him," 
says Mr. Sully, " the current of passion subsides." 

202. Abuse of the Feelings in Education. — There 
are educators whose favorite maxim is, "Always reason 
with children ; " but there are others who are not less 
deceived when they say, "Always appeal to their 
feelings." 

Education does not admit of any exclusive mobile,^ and 
the emotions less than any other. 

1 The distinction between motives and mobiles, first made by 
Jouffroy, is worth preserving. Tlie state of mind that precedes an 
act always contains two elements, an intellectual and an emotional; 
and usually these elements are inversely proportional. Now when 
the stimulus to action is mainly intellectual, it is called by Jouffroy 
a motive; but when it is mainly emotional, he calls it a mobile. 
In the conduct of men of the highest type, motives predominate ; 
but brutes are governed wholly, and savages mainly, by mobiles. 

" Motives are the intellectual reasons which cause us to act in 
such or such a manner, such as thoughts and considei'ations of 
the mind. Mobiles, on the contrary, are the movements of the 
heart, the affections, the passions. For example, maternal love is 
a mobile, but the calculations of interest and the considerations of 
dignity are motives." — Marion, Lemons de Psj/chologie, p. 127. (P.) 



192 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

"Were sensibility perfectly developed in the child, there 
would be danger in confiding in it exclusively. But the 
child's sensibility is small and limited, and when we count 
on its inspiration to govern his conduct, we often place 
our reliance upon a nothing. 

203. False Appearances of Infant Sensibility. — In 

reality, the child is less sensitive than he seems. Deceived 
by appearances, we often attribute to him emotions which 
he does not feel. 

" The actions of children continually deceive us by their ex- 
terior resemblance to ours, and we as often go astray in trying 
to find in them, in order to govern them, mobiles similar to those 
of which we ourselves are conscious. Louise, in some passing 
transport, leaves her play, throws her arms about my neck, and 
cannot leave off embracing me ; it seems that all my mother's 
heart could not suffice to respond to the warmth of her caresses ; 
but she leaves me, and with the same playful movement goes 
to kiss her doll or the arm of the chair that she meets on her 
way." 1 

There is an evident disproportion between the exterior 
manifestations of the child, his gestures, his motions, 
which attest the superabundance of life in his young 
body, and the real measure of tlie emotions which he 
experiences. Because the child is prone to cry, do not 
let us proceed, on false appearances, to ascribe to him a 
strength of emotion similar to our own. It is ridiculous 
to correct a child by saying to him, as Rousseau would 
after a fault has been committed, "My child, you have 
done me a wrong ! " J^ither the child will not compre- 
hend you, and your admonition will leave him indifferent, 
or he will appear affected, but will be so only upon the 

1 Madame Guizot, Lettres defamille sur Vifducation, I., p. 6. 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 193 

surface ; and in trying to excite a premature emotion 
you will have obtained only an affectation, a pretence 
of affection. 

" When the Duchess of Orleans was ill," says Miss Edge- 
worth, " the children were instructed to write ' charming notes ' 
from day to day, from hour to hour, to inquire how she did. 
Once, when a servant was going from Saint Leu to Paris, Ma- 
dame de Silleri asked her pupils if they had any commissions. 
The little Due de Chartres said, ' Yes ' ; and he gave a mes- 
sage about a bird-cage, but he did not recollect to write to 
his mother, till somebody whispered to him that he had for- 
gotten it." ^ 

Then let us take children for what they are, selfish 
little creatures, in whom the affectionate emotions grow 
but slowly, and without ever effacing the inclinations 
of personal interest. 

204. General Rules for the Education of the 
Feelings. — The attentive study of the slow and con- 
tinuous progress of the feelings, rising little by little 
from the grossest pleasures of the senses to the most 
delicate emotions of the heart, is the best refutation that 
can be made of the error of educators who, like Rous- 
seau, would wait till the fifteenth year for developing 
the moral sentiments. We cannot too early cultivate the 
sensibility of the child and call into exercise, in chil- 
dren's friendships, in the affections of the family, a 
sensibility destined later to become enamored of still 
greater objects. On this point it is necessary to conform 
to nature, to instinct, and from an early age to give free 
course to the first emotions, to the first aspirations of 
the heart. The education of the feelings will at first be 

1 Miss Edgeworth, op. cit., I., p. 368. 



194 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

negative ; it will be content with avoiding whatever 
might wound or repress the nascent feelings. But little 
by little it will become positive ; that is to say, it will 
seek every occasion to excite, and at the same time to 
regulate, the sentiments, and to associate the child's 
pleasures with things that are good and beautiful. 

205. Relations of Emotion to Idea. — The simplest 
psychological analysis suffices to prove that the emotions 
have direct relations with ideas. The feelings are 
exercised only upon the objects made known by the in- 
telligence. It is an error to suppose that the heart is 
impoverished in proportion as the mind is enriched. 
Would you have a child love his country? First teach 
him what his country is ; relate to him the history of his 
ancestors ; descri])e to him the extent of his native land. 
When the idea has once taken form in his mind, the 
emotion will follow and will spontaneously attach itself 
to the known object. It is not enough, however, to 
enlighten the intelligence ; we nuist interest the imagi- 
nation. An English philosopher has remarked that cold- 
ness of heart is frequently caused by a defective im- 
agination. 

" The story of the same accident, of the same tragical event, 
if told in a heartless and uninteresting manner, will leave us un- 
moved; but related in a manner which speaks to our imagination, 
it will move us to the very deptlis of tlie soul. This also explains 
how an accident which has happened in a city that we know, in 
our quarter, in our neighborhood, moves us infinitely more than 
if it had happened at a distance, in a foreign city, or in an un- 
known country." 1 

The development of the feelings is thus intimately con- 
nected with the progress of the intelligence. We have no 

1 M. Marion, Lemons de Psychologic, p. 182. 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 195 

direct hold on the emotions ; we cannot evoke them at 
the word of command ; but by indirect means, by appeal- 
ing to reflection, by presenting to the child, either in 
narratives or in real examples, situations adapted to move 
him, we shall be able, by enlightening his mind, to find 
the road to his heart. 

The author of the Ecole maternelle relates an excellent 
lesson in filial affection. A little child in a salle d'asile 
had lost his mother. On coming back from the cemetery 
he had returned to school, where with the thoughtless- 
ness of his age he talked and laughed with his com- 
panions. When the time for opening school liad come, 
the mistress spoke as follows : 

" My children, we will not sing to-day, for to sing we must be 
happy and content. Now we cannot be content because here is 
a little child who is not happy. He has had the greatest nusfor- 
tune that can befall a child ; he has lost his mother, who loved him 
so much. To-night when he goes home he will not find his dear 
mother there to kiss him. You, my children,who find your mother 
at home, think while kissing her how happy you are in not hav- 
ing lost her. Love your mother ; and to show that you love her, 
never cause her any sorrow." And the mistress added, "Be 
very good to Charles, who no longer has a mother to love him." ^ 

206. Communication of Feeling. — If feeling cannot 
be taught directly, there is a compensation in the fact 
that it can be communicated. Sensibility is contagious. 
Surround the child with affection and love, and he will 
respond to this appeal. His heart will l)e moved if 
he feels the beating of other hearts. All the faculties of 
the soul have a tendency to radiate, to expand ; but this 
is especially true of the emotions. If you discover cold- 
ness and insensibility in a mature man, do not condemn 

1 Mademoiselle Chalamet, L'Ecole maternelle, p. 87. 



196 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

him hastily ; for the fault is probably due to his parents, 
his first teachers, or to his surroundings, rather thau to 
himself. Madame de Maiuteuou Mas reason itself, but 
her Solidite, as Louis XIV. called her, was somewhat 
lacking in sensibility and benignity. This fault was 
certainly due in part to her education ; her mother had 
kissed her but twice in her whole life, and then after 
a long absence. 

The best means of making a child affectionate is to 
treat him with affection. Love is born of love. The soul 
opens and yields itself to the affection which is bestowed 
upon it. Surrounded by persons of gentle passions and 
benevolent dispositions, habituated to be an object of 
indulgence and affection, the child will naturally become 
gentle and affectionate. He will learn to feel the goodness 
whose effects he has experienced. 

" Let the teacher love his pupils, and their hearts will respond 
to his own. Love is naturally communicative ; it invites a gra- 
cious and sympathetic return. The child very well knows when 
he is loved; he sees it in the glances, m the words of his 
teacher, and when he recognizes in his teacher a patience full 
of affection, his heart grows tender and inevitably becomes at- 
tached to one who consecrates himself to him with such devotion. 
Then he runs to him with joy ; in his teacher he has found a 
friend and a father. " It is here that I take my stand," said Pes- 
talozzi ; " I would have my children able at each moment, from 
morning till evening, to read on my face and to divine upon my 
lips that my heart is devoted to them ; that their happiness and 
their joys are my happiness and my joys." ^ 

207. Relations of Emotion to Action. — An ex- 

1 Gautliey, De V Education, II., p. 8. It is not useless to note, with 
Madame Pape-Carpantier, that this affection of the teacher for his 
pupils ought to be particular, individual. " That children may love, 
love them. Love them, not from the heights of a lofty philan- 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 197 

cellent means of cultivating the feelings is to provide 
occasions and procure the means for calling them into 
exercise. The Abbe de Saint Pierre required as school 
exercises acts of benevolence and justice. At least we 
may require of children, in then* own family, acts of 
tenderness towards their brothers, respect for their 
parents, and at school, acts of good- will towards their 
schoolmates. By the very fact that he has been accus- 
tomed to practice a virtue, the child will acquire the feeling 
which ordinarily accompanies and inspires that virtue. 
By giving alms he will learn to love the poor ; by doing 
others a service he will come to love humanity. But on 
one condition, however, — that the acts suggested to the 
child are suited to his nature, that they already accord 
with his tastes, and that they are not constrained and 
forced. Only then will the child find in the act accom- 
plished a new source of pleasure, and this pleasure, once 
tasted, will stimulate him to repeat the act. It is a truth 
which deserves recognition, that we love only because 
we find pleasure in loving. 

But care must be taken not to be satisfied with appear- 
ances. In sentiment, as in religion, it is the reality which 
is important, not the exterior formalities. The rich child, 
for example, gives money freely to the poor, when he has 
it ; but he who lives in abundance does not know the 
value of money, he feels no privation from what he has 
done. Then accustom the child only to acts adapted to 
his age, whose significance he can comprehend. 

In this exercise of the child's sensibility, care should be 
taken to have him understand the effects which his acts 

thropy, — you will then be too far away from them ; love all the 
children on the globe, if your soul is large enough ; but love above 
everything else, and in particular, each one of those who are 
intrusted to your care. No abstract affection, but much affection in 
the concrete. " 



198 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

produce on the feelings of others. Defective sympathy 
often comes from the inattention of the child, who does 
not take into account the feelings of others. He would 
be more atfectionate, more loving, if he knew just how 
nmch his disobedience and his faults grieved those who 
love him. Then make him reflect, either on the pain he 
caused his parents by his bad conduct or on the pleasure 
he has given them by his gooil conduct. The day the 
child has formed a just idea of the consequences of his 
conduct he will really experience the delights of sympathy 
and affection ; he will seek his pleasure in the pleasure 
of others ; he Avill have passed the narrow circle of 
selfishness. 

208. The Generation of Feelings one by Another. 
— If it is true that feelings are communicated from one 
heart to another, it is not less true that by a sort of interior 
generation a feeling once excited in the soul gives birth to 
other feelings. The different affections form as it were a 
chain. If the child seizes one end of it, he will easily go 
from one link to another, and the entire chain will pass 
through his hands. At first let us appeal to the simplest 
feelings, those which are most familiar ; let us kindle some 
flame in the child's heart ; we shall see this flame gradually 
gaining ground; and little by little it will extend to the 
whole soul. 

" Cliilflren who see their father and mother love each other will 
also love one another. In a home where aft'ectioii reigns, they are 
bathed in it and perspire it at every pore. Before they have 
learned to speak, children read affection in the eyes of father and 
mother ; and this affection children transmit to everything that 
surrounds them."^ 

1 Champfleury, Les Enfants, p. 138. 



CULTURE OF THE FEELINGS. 199 

If he has begun by loving his family, be assured that the 
child will also love, when the time comes, his friends, his 
fellow-citizens, and the whole human race. 

The affectionate son, the kind companion, will also be by 
a sort of happy fatality an ardent citizen, a patriot, a good 
and generous man. It is not filial affection, but family 
selfishness, that sometimes turns aside the citizen from 
loving his own country as he ought. 

209, The Feeling of Pleasure and Pain. — Pleasure is 
the basis of all sensibility. It is by the vivacity of the pleas- 
ure which the child is capable of feeling that his degree of 
sensibility will be measured. We think we love others for 
their own sake ; but in reality we love them for the pleasure 
we find in loving them. When personal, selfish interests are 
concerned, it is still more true that the pleasure we experi- 
ence is the basis and the purpose of the feeling. 

In one sense, it might be asserted that the education of 
the feelings wholly consists either in developing or in regu- 
lating the child's feeling of pleasure. 

But there is pleasure and pleasure. By the side of the 
gross enjoyments of the senses there are the pure emotions 
of the heart. Through the development of the intelligence, 
education will at last succeed in making the higher pleas- 
ures more and more predominate over the attractions of 
material enjoyment. To put the book in place of the wine- 
cup, to replace sensation by idea, — such, according to Con- 
dorcet, is the fundamental problem of popular education ; or 
if not by idea, at least by sentiment. Between the life of 
sensation and the intellectual life there is an intermediary 
more accessible to the multitude ; this is the life of the senti- 
ments, of the emotions of the heart, of family and social 
affections, of the sacred joys of patriotism. 

It is, however, a question whether education should have 



200 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

a tendency to increase the child's aptitude to feel pleasure 
and pain vividly, of whatever nature they may be. 

According to Kant, the culture of the feelings of pleas- 
ure or of pain should be purely negative. The case of a child 
who takes pleasure in nothing is wholly exceptional. The 
feeling of pleasure is too much in conformity with nature to 
make it necessary to excite it. There should be only precau- 
tions to be taken against a tendency naturally so powerful. 

"There is no need," says the German philosopher, " to mollify 
the feelings. The propensity for pleasure is more vexatious to 
men than all the evils of life." ^ 

Surely there is nothing good to be expected from soft 
and effeminate natures which can act only under the impulse 
of pleasure. We do not believe, with Fenelon, that every- 
thing is to be done in education with an eye to pleasure-giving, 
and that the teacher's ideal is to have "a cheerful face" 
and to provide " cheerful conversation." Without believing 
that pain is inseparable from effort, — for there are efforts 
that are joyous, in which the display of activity redoubles 
pleasure, — we grant that effort is sometimes painful, afflic- 
tive. Now effort is the condition of progress, the instru- 
ment of education. 

" Let us fight against soft impressibleness in children ; but let 
us not forget, on the other hand, that insensibility is the worst of 
all faults. What can be expected of those dullish children whom 
nothing moves, who can neither laugh, nor even smile, whom 
pleasure does not excite ? On the contrary, everything is to be 
expected of children who are inclined to joyousness, and whom 
pleasure inspires, but on the condition that we know how to 
direct, little by little, towards the good, towards the objects 
worthy of being loved, this need of enjoyment and this ardor for 
pleasure." 

^ Kant, op. cit., p. 225. 



CULTUKE OF THE FEELINGS. 201 

210. Excitation of Personal Feelings. — " Sentiment 
will develop itself unaided," says Gautliey, "when it is con- 
cerned with self-love." In fact, it seems at first sight that 
the selfish feelings need only a negative, repressive discipline 
which merely tempers their exaggeration ; and yet all who 
have had the management of children know that in certain 
cases education should assume, even with the personal feel- 
ings, its normal function, which consists in spurring, in stim- 
ulating. In fact, there are natures so languid and sleepy that 
education should intervene to animate them, to excite them 
to self-love and to ambition. 

"The egoistic impulses," says Mr. Sully, "may even be deficient 
and require positive stimulation. There are listless and lethargic 
children whom it is well to try and arouse to self-assertion. In 
their case it may be desirable to seek to quicken tlie feelings of 
pride, ambition, and (in extreme cases) even the distinctly anti- 
social feeling of antagouism and delight in beating others. . . . 
Even when there is no natural deficiency hi these feelings, the 
education has not so much to repress them as to direct them to 
higher objects or aspects of objects. He seeks to transform them 
by refining them. Thus he aims at leading the child up from the 
fear of physical evil to the fear of moral evil ; from the enjoy- 
ments of bodily conquest to that of mental competition ; from 
pride in the possession of material objects to pride in the posses- 
sion of intellectual qualities. " ^ 

211. The Passions. — To tell the truth, the study of 
the passions is not a pedagogical subject. In fact, the pas- 
sions, which are exalted, exclusive inclinations, and which 
have been defined as "habits of the sensibility," imperious 
and violent habits, are developed only in the progress of 
life. His young age and his very inexperience shelter the 
child from those profound disturbances, those diseases of the 

1 Sully, op. cit, p. 506. 



202 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

soul. It is in ethics, not in pedagogy, that we must look 
for the means to cure them ; just as it pertains to logic to 
correct the sophisms that are rooted in conventional thought. 

However, if education is not directly concerned with the 
passions, since in general tliey do not exist at the school 
age, it ought to anticipate their appearance. From child- 
hood, care should be taken lest the soul become a soil 
already prepared for the unfolding of the passions by a 
preference accorded to certain emotions and by the exclu- 
sive development of certain tastes. The best guaranty, for 
this purpose, is to develop the sensibility in all directions. It 
is hardly to be feared that passion will ever gain the ascen- 
dency over a soul open to all noble sentiments, which has 
learned to share its faculty of loving among the different 
objects worthy of its love. 

However, there are other precautions to be taken, which 
M. Marion has happily summed up in these terms : 

"Vigilance is better than repression and advice. The little 
child must be carefully guarded, and everything done that he may 
grow up in perfect moral health. This dispenses with untimely 
recriminations and useless reproaches. Sparing children the 
occasions for falling, watching over their conduct without allow- 
ing them to suspect our oversight, keeping from their sight 
bad books and bad sights, choosing the companions with whom 
they associate, allowing them to hear only decorous conversation, 
giving them only good examples, inspiring them as much as 
possible with a feeling of their responsibility, — in a word, 
fashioning and directing their moral growth in such a way that 
they will be healthy and strong when the hour of the passions 
comes, — this is the work of a well-conducted education." ^ 

1 M. Marion, op. cit., p. 249. 



CHAPTEE X. 

MORAL EDUCATION. 

212. Moral Education Proper. — We shall not fol- 
low the example of those educators who, with respect to 
moral education, include in their treatises the whole theory 
of duty, the whole of ethics, just as they have introduced 
the whole of psychology into their treatment of intellectual 
education. Our subject is limited ; it is concerned simply 
with the inquiry how nature of herself develops the moral 
faculties, and how education intervenes in its tiu'n to train 
them, to hasten their unfolding, and to perfect their develop- 
ment. It is not the purpose here to set forth the different 
applications of moral power, but we liave simply to inquire 
by what means this power is called into being and grad- 
ually created. 

213. The Moral Faculties. — The moral faculties are 
distinguished from the intellectual faculties in that they tend 
to action, and not to knowledge. These are active, not spec- 
ulative faculties. The moral faculties form the character ; 
the intellectual faculties form the mind. The former lead 
us to virtue ; the latter to knowledge. 

Moreover, thei-e are to be distinguished in that aggregate 
of moral faculties commonly called the conscience three 
different series of facts : 

1. The facts of the serisihility, not of that general sensibility 
of which we have already spoken, which is diffused in the 

203 



204 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

affections of every sort, but of that which attaches us to 
the good, which makes us love duty, which affects us in 
the presence of what is good. 

2. The facts of the intelligence, the practical reason, which 
suggests to us the ideas of good and evil, of merit and 
demerit, — in a word, moral ideas. 

3. The fact of the ivill, the energy which determines us 
to the action which we know to be good, the good-will which 
inclines us to virtue. 

In other terms, we must at the same time love, know, 
and will the good. It is not enough that our enlightened 
intelligence permits us to distinguish what is good from 
what is bad. Beyond this, and above all, it is necessary 
that a strong will give us the means of executing the decis- 
ions of our moral judgment ; and it is also necessary, in order 
that the moral effort may be less painful, that feeling come 
to our aid, that the imperious orders of the reason become, 
as often as possible, the gracious solicitations of the heart. 

214. Moral Education and the Teaching of Mor- 
als. — Moral education is one thing, and the teaching of 
morals quite another.^ A course in morals, a body of pre- 
cepts, is certainly of great service in training a man to be 
good. We do not think the ancient philosophy was wholly 
wrong when it affirmed that virtue can be taught. It can 
not be useless to call the attention of the child, in a didac- 
tic way, to the grand truths of conscience, to the distribu- 
tion of duties, the diverse obligations of life ; but neverthe- 
less the teaching of morals is but a small part of moral edu- 
cation. 

This education is really going on at every stage and mo- 
ment of life. It begins at birth, through the examples which 

1 See Part Second of this work. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 205 

parents transmit to their children ; it is continued at school, 
through the habits that are formed there, through the senti- 
ments which are there developed, and especially through the 
discipline that is in vogue there ; finally, it is prolonged 
during the whole of life, through the effort of the will and of 
personal education. 

This education, moreover, is a complex work, in which 
there co-operate even more tlian in intellectual education, not 
only the child's own nature, his native dispositions and 
particular tastes, but the different characters of all the 
persons who surround him, his parents, his friends, his 
teachers, and in general the influences, perhaps as profound, 
though more unnoticed, of the social environment in which 
he lives. 

It cannot, then, be seriously proposed to confine moral 
education to the narrow circle of a school course, of a series 
of lessons, whatever science may be introduced into them. 

"The purj)ose of moral education is not to add to a pupil's 
knowledge, but to affect his will ; it moves more than it demon- 
strates ; before acting on the emotional nature, it proceeds rather 
from the heart than from the reason ; it does not undertake to 
analyze all the reasons of the moral act, but tries above all else 
to produce it, to have it repeated, to make of it a habit which 
shall govern the life. Especially in the primary school, it is not 
a science, but an art, — the art of inclining the free will towards 
the good. " 1 

215. Importance of Moral Education. — Is there need 
at this time of insisting on the especial importance of moral 
education? Necessary at all times, it is still more so in a 
society like ours, where morality ought to be developed in 
proportion to the development of liberty itself. 

" The establishment of the republican regime," says the author 
1 See the Act establishing common schools. 



206 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

of a recent book, " by reducing the part of arbitrary authority 
which is made imperative, demands in return a proportional 
increase of that moral authority which is accepted in its stead. 
" Being less governed by an external will, it is necessary that 
men know better how to govern themselves ; what they once did 
through force and through fear, they must learn to do by free 
will and through duty. " ^ 

216. Superiority OF Moral Grandeur. — "We have said 
in another place that instruction or intellectual power plays 
an important part in the development of moral power. It 
sometimes happens, however, that morality does not accom- 
pany learning, nor even genius. 

" As a moral man," says Mr. Blackie, "the first Napoleon lived 
and died very poor and very small. ... It was an easy thing for 
Lord Byron to be a great poet ; it was merely indulging his 
nature ; he was an eagle, and must fly ; but to have curbed his 
wilful humor, soothed his fretful discontent, and learned to 
behave like a reasonable being and a gentleman, — that was a 
difficult matter, which he does not seem ever seriously to have 
attempted. His life, therefore, with all his genius and fits of 
occasional sublimity, was on the whole a terrible failure." ^ 

The same might be said of Rousseau, capable on occasion 
of heroic devotion, but powerless to apply himself to the 
ordinary duties of life ; a man of incomparable genius, but 
scarcely an honorable man. 

Then let us put morality in the first rank of our solici- 
tudes, because it is the first need of society. "We may 
even conceive a society composed of honorable men without 
instruction ; but we cannot conceive a society formed of edu- 
cated men without honor. "^ 

1 M. Vessiot, De I' Education a I'^cole. 

2 Blackie, op. cit., p. 57, 58. 
8 M. Vessiot, op. cit, p. 13. 



MOKAL EDUCATION. 207 

217. Is THE Child Good or Bad ? — The ideal is to 
make of the child a moral being who carries within himself 
his own rule of conduct, who governs himself by his own 
will, and who knows no other rule than the law of right, and 
who has nc^will except for the good. 

But before nature and education have succeeded in com- 
pletely developing the germs of the moral consciousness, 
before the child comes to be virtuous, many years elapse ; 
and during this time all we can demand of the child is to be 
innocent. Our only thought is to prevent him from doing 
evil, or at most to cultivate the instinctive dispositions wliich 
urge him to praiseworthy actions. We can impose on liim 
only an exterior morality, so to speak, while waiting for the 
reason and the will to become, in his mature soul, the solid 
principles of an interior morality, freely desired and 
realized. 

Up to what point does the nature of the child adapt itself 
to this first education ? Do we find in him only instinctive 
tendencies towards the good? Or, on the contrary, must we 
expect a stubborn resistance on the part of a nature deeply 
corrupt and vicious? 

In other terms, is the child good or bad? 

The general direction of education varies according to the 
reply given to this question. We are either constrained to 
look with favor on a nature assumed to be good, or our only 
thought is to repress a nature originally bad. 

" Education, " says Madame Guizot, " has long been a system 
of hostility against human nature. It was merely a question of 
correcting and punishing. It seemed that the only question was 
to take from children the nature which God had given them, in 
oi'der to give them another fashioned by the teacher." ^ 

On the other hand, especially since Rousseau and the 
1 Madame Guizot, op. cit., Lettre XII. 



208 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY, 

paradoxes of the Emile upon the absolute iunocence and the 
perfect goodness of the child, education tends to replace 
punishments by encouragements, and the "sycophants of 
infancy," according to the expression of Madame Necker de 
Saussure, think only of avoiding everything that restricts and 
constrains, in order to leave to nature her full and free 
expansion. 

218. Opposing Opinions. — For our part, we shall avoid 
the absolute opinions of both the optimists and the pessi- 
mists, who in turn present to us infant nature under colors 
the most cheerful or the most sombre. 

" Everything is good," cries Rousseau, " as it comes from the 
hands of the Author of nature. The first movements of nature 
are always right." 

On the other hand, " we are born the children of wrath," 
says St. Paul. "All are born for damnation," proclaims 
Saint Augustine. And the Jansenists zealously echo the 
sentiment. 

"You ought to consider your children," wrote Varet, "as all 
inclined and borne on toward evil. Their inclinations are all 
corrupt ; and not being governed by reason, tliey will cause them 
to find pleasure and enjoyment only in the things which lead 
them to vice." 

It is between these two extremes, between these two theses 
equally false, of the radical perversity and of the absolute 
goodness of man, that we must look for the truth. 

219. The Child is neither Good nor Bad. — Correctly 
speaking, the child has not yet a moral character, and we 
might think the question settled by this observation of 
Kant: 

" It is a question," he says, " whether man is by his nature 



MORAL EDUCATION. 209 

morally good or bad. I reply that he is neither, for naturally he 
is not a moral being ; he becomes such only when he elevates his 
reason to the ideas of duty and of law. He could not become 
morally good save by means of virtue, — that is to say, a con- 
straint exercised over himself, although he may be innocent as 
long as his passions are slumbering." 

But Kant somewhat mistakes the question, which is, not 
whether the acts of the child are inspired l)y a moral inten- 
tion, good or bad, — which no one would dare to assert, — 
but whether, without willing it, and by an unconscious 
inclination of his nature, the child is led to what is good or 
to what is bad. The truth is that he is led to both, and that 
in his composite nature vicious dispositions are associated 
with legitimate and praiseworthy instincts. 

We grant, however, that the inclinations of the child are 
not, for the most part, evil in themselves. " What is evil in 
them," wrote Madame Guizot, " is not the inclination, but 
its inordinate manifestation." And Kant had said to the 
same effect : ' '• The sole cause of evil is that nature is not 
subjected to rules." 

220. The Assumed Evil Instincts of Childhood. — Let 
us now examine some of the accusations brought against the 
child. 

He has been greatly traduced. "The child," said La 
Bruyere, "is haughty, disdainful, irascible, envious, inquisi- 
tive, selfish, lazy, fickle, etc." It is a pleasure to know that 
this litany of slanders emanates from a bachelor. With- 
out intending to flatter the child, we may assert that his 
faults come, some from the bad education which he receives, 
others from his ignorance, and only a very few from an 
innate tendency to evil. 

It is said, for example, that the child is cruel. " That age 
is without pity," said La Fontaine, who was less affectionate 



210 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to children than to animals. This saying is true, but the 
most often this harshness is the result of a lack of intelli- 
gence. Children are without pity, because they do not under- 
stand the evil which they do. They torture a bird, because, 
like little Cartesians, they do not know that the bird suffers. 

Another instinct of the child, it is said, is theft. The 
child resembles the savage, who has only a confused notion 
of property. "He has not exactly the instinct of theft," 
remarks M. Legouve, " but he has not the instinct of other's 
property. In his case, the distinction between mine and 
thine often consists in taking the thine in order to make of it 
tlie mine. But is it to be wondered at that the child, who 
has not studied the code, who has not, like Rousseau's Emile, 
encountered a gardener Robert to explain to him the origin 
of property, readily consents to take for liis own use what 
pleases him, but does not belong to him? 

In other cases it is the grown man who, by his lack of 
sense or by his example, inculcates on the child his own 
faults. 

Is it childish vanity that we hear mentioned ? Must not 
parents be blamed for this? This is stinmlated by parents 
who on improper occasions excite the self-esteem of their 
children by exaggerating their merits. There is a well-known 
story of a little girl who, liaving been praised by her mother 
for a childish repartee, said in the presence of a lady visitor, 
'" Mamma, vou have not told Madame what I said this morn- 
ing!" 

Children are charged with gluttony ! I firmly believe that 
Rousseau was right on this point, and that it is society, in 
this case, which corrupts nature. In fact, does the greedy 
child do more than desire his share of the dainties which load 
the table of his parents? If the example of intemperance 
were not set before him, he would be more temperate than 
we think. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 211 

So falsehood is too often but the result of our bad man- 
agement. " Now who has broken this piece of furniture?" 
we cry in a rage. Thoroughly frightened, tlie little culprit 
replies, " I did not do it ! " The child who is treated mildly 
becomes confiding, but, terrified by oui* severity, he seeks a 
refuge in falsehood. 

Moreover, it is not sufficient, in order to judge the child 
justly, to seek in his ignorance or in his bad education the 
explanation and the excuse for the most of his faults. We 
must go further, and show what good qualities, what senti- 
ments of justice, liberality, pity, and goodness he sometimes 
exhibits. But we have said enough to justify those who, in 
judging the child, would avoid on the one hand extravagant 
praise and on the other passionate condemnation. 

221. The Evil Instincts of the Child. — Let us ac- 
knowledge the fact, however, that certain instincts of child- 
hood are real tendencies to evil. It is inaccurate to say 
that there are in nature germs only of the good. Envy and 
anger are natural, but they are essentially bad. Here tlie 
evil is in the inclination, not in the inordinate manifestation 
of the inclination. 

Madame Necker de Saussure dwells, not without regret, 
she says, upon the vices inherent in the nature of the child. 

"I speak of that momentary demoralization of the will which 
finds a pleasure, a particular savor, in the idea of violatin*;' a 
rule. . . . We observe in children something besides weakness, 
something besides inability to submit to the sacrifices required 
by duty ; we see delight in throwing off the yoke of duty." ^ 

To the same effect Mr. Bain devotes a special article to 
the " anti-social and malign emotions." 

To those who would deny the existence of evil instincts, 

1 Madame Necker de Saussure, I., p. 304. 



212 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

and would explain what is evil by the intemperance of in- 
clinations good in themselves, it suffices to observe that the 
very intemperance is a principle of evil ; that this tendency 
to run riot is in nature, and consequently that human nature 
is not wholly good. 

222. Repression of Vicious Tendencies. — Moral edu- 
cation, then, will not be merely a work of excitation and of 
culture ; it will also have to oppose and to repress. At first, 
the evil will be opposed by favoring the good. There is no 
better way of correcting evil inclinations than by cultivating 
those which are good ; nor of fighting indolence than by 
exciting to labor ; nor of preventing malevolence than by 
teaching to be good. It is to the same effect that Madame 
Guizot wrote : 

" I have always been persuaded that education had no power 
against evil, except the taste for the good. 

" We do not repress an evil inclination, but we fortify a good 
one ; and I know of no means of extirpating a fault except to 
make a virtue grow in its place." ^ 

" In certain cases, however, we must resort to direct repression. 
The method of substitution does not always suffice. Special 
remedies are required for definitely marked diseases. It is here 
that discipline intervenes, with its retinue of punishments and its 
necessary means of coercion." ^ 

Patient with trivial faults which would be aggravated by 
calling the child's attention to them and by punishing them 
prematurely, discipline will be severe in the case of giave 
faults. It will prevent their return, and, it will chastise them 
sharply if it cannot prevent them, if an obstinate resistance 
makes exhortations and reprimands useless. 

223. The Conscience or Practical Reason. — There 

1 Madame Guizot, op. cit, I., p. 105. 
^ See Part Second of this work. 



MOKAL EDUCATION. 213 

comes a moment in the life of the child when it does not 
suffice to correct his evil inclinations and to awaken his 
beneficent instincts ; but when we must excite his moral 
consciousness and create in him the idea of a general rule 
of conduct, the idea of duty. 

Nature has planted the germ of this idea in the intelli- 
gence, and it is to the reason, — that is, to the highest of the 
intellectual faculties, — that psychology ascribes the origin 
of moral conceptions. 

Reason is the faculty of intellectual ideas, necessary and 
absolute ; it is the natural light which enlightens every man 
coming into this world. 

From the first dawn of his intelligence, the child is already 
under the direction of the reason ; but this reason is almost 
unconscious. The child would be incapable of formulating 
the rational laws of which his judgments are the application. 
Thus a little boy of seven or eight years looks with his 
father for a lost object, and not finding it, he cries, "But 
yet it must certainly be that something is always some- 
where ! " 

Is not this already to express, in an artless way and with- 
out succeeding in rendering a complete account of it, the 
necessary existence of an infinite space in which are con- 
tained all material things ? And so, when a child on whom 
we have tried to impress the idea of the creation of the 
world and the idea of the Creator, replies obstinately, " But 
before God what was there?" is it not evident that without 
knowing it his young mind obeys the principle of causality, 
which requires that every existence should be connected with 
an antecedent cause? 

The examples which we have just cited are connected with 
what Kant called the pure reason, that is, the theoretical 
and speculative reason, that which guides us in scientific 
research. 



214 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

But there are other manifestations of the reason, — those 
which rekite to practical life and to moral conduct. In this 
sense the reason is nothing ])ut the moral consciousness, the 
belief in an obligatory law which all ought to obey. Since 
Kant, philosophers usually give to this the name of practical 
reason. Let us see if under this form the reason also mani- 
fests itself in the actions of the child. 

224. The Moral Sense in the Child. — At what mo- 
ment may it be said that there appears in the child the 
essential moral idea, —that is, the distinction between good 
and evil, detached from every foreign element? 

Certain observers of childhood seem to us to have ascribed 
too much upon this point to the childish intelligence. M. 
Perez believes that the objective notion of good and evil can 
be verified at the age of six or seven months. Darwin 
declares that he observed the moral sense in children at the 
age of thirteen months. 

For ourselves, we are convinced that neither at thirteen 
months nor at two years, nor even much later, is the child in 
a condition actuall}^ to discriminate good from evil. In order 
to believe him capable of morality in the strict sense of the 
word, it would first be necessaiy to accept a loose definition 
of the moral consciousness, — a definition which invalidates 
and attenuates its import ; it would then be necessary to 
resort to an illusory interpretation of certain acts in 
child-life. 

Here are the facts reported by Darwin ^ and by Perez. ^ 
Doddy, aged thirteen months, seemed to notice the reproaches 
of his father, who called him a bad boy. At the age of two 
years and five months, Doddy, who had been left alone, 
helped himself to sugar, a thing which he knew was for- 

1 See in the Revue Sclentifiqiie the account by Darwin. 

2 M. Pe'rez, op. cit. 



MOEAL EDUCATION. 215 

bidden. His father met liiiu at the moraeut when he came 
from the dining-room, and noticed something strange in his 
conduct. " I think," adds Darwin, '-that this appearance 
was to be attributed to the struggle between the pleasure 
of eating the sugar and the beginning of remorse.'' The 
examples given by Perez are of the same character. A child 
of eleven months obeyed when his father said, in a loud voice, 
" Keep still ! " This child had not yet walked alone, but his 
father caused him to take a few steps toward him by offering 
him a half of a peach. 

It requires much good will to decorate with the epithet 
moral, actions in which are manifested merely the desire to 
gratify some sense, the fear of suffering associated by the 
memory with certain actions, or at most the distinction be- 
tween paternal caresses and threats. The association of ideas 
and the memory, concurring in a conscious feeling of pleasure 
and pain, abundantly suffices to explain the relative obedience 
yielded by the child, and we decline to 1)elieve that a baby is 
in possession of the moral sense from the moment he obeys 
throngli habit or fear. 

225. Development of the Moral Consciousness. — 
Not that it is necessary to deny the importance of these early 
sensible and utilitarian distinctions in the future acquisition 
of moral distinctions. Nature proceeds by successive rough 
drafts. For the moral consciousness, as for the attention, 
we must be content at first with appearances, with a fore- 
shadowing of the real state which will be attained only long 
afterwards. 

At first, the good is what pleases and the bad what dis- 
pleases the child. Let it be so managed that he shall be 
pleased with onh^ what is good. Later on, the good is what 
father and mother order, and the evil what they forbid. 
Manage in such a way that the child loves or fears his 



216 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

parents enough to yield with docility to their will. Still 
later, when the intelligence is capable of reflection, the good 
is what is useful, the evil what is hurtful. As far as possi- 
ble make the child's duty accord with his interest. Finally, 
at a still higher stage, the good is what men approve, what 
the civil law requires ; the evil, what is universally con- 
demned. Make the child sensitive to public opinion. 
Teach him to blush, and to feel shame for every act which 
incurs general reproach. 

It is not till the final term of its evolution that the 
conscience comes to grasp the idea of a moral good existing 
by itself, conformed to the dignity of man, which must be 
practiced for the sole reason that it is good. But before the 
moral idea is detached from every foreign element, — from the 
seductions of pleasure, from the fear or the love inspired by 
parents, from the solicitations of interest, from the respect 
inspired by public opinion, how many halting-places there 
are to pass through ! What painful and slow elaboration to 
attain the ideal of a conscience saluting a sovereign law, 
bowing before it and voluntarily conforming to its require- 
ments ! 

226. The FIRST Manifestations of Morality. — Moral- 
ity, in the strict sense of the word, is not the act of a being 
whose conduct is simply in accord with the moral law ; but 
it is the characteristic of a person who intentionally and 
because he wills it, submits to that law, and knowingly 
accomplishes actions which he judges good. 

Must we think that the child is absolutely a stranger to 
morality, thus understood? Some facts seem to prove the 
contrary. 

"All the niceties of the moral sentiments," says M. Egger, 
"are not the product of education and the privilege of a more 
advanced age. For example, the instinct of remorse and of 



MORAL EDUCATION. 217 

reparation is usually exhibited by children after little revolts of 
the will. The child is never in better spirits than after these 
storms ; and it is credible that he shows the intention of having 
us forget the sorrow caused by his disobedience." ^ 

M. Perez cites, from the Italian philosopher L. Ferri, the 
case of a child five years old, who, having been praised by 
his mother, said to her, " Mamma, I wish I could make you 
still happier ; I wish I could always be good ; tell me, why 
can't I always be good? " ^ 

A still more probable case is that of a child noticed also 
by M. Perez, who thought he was not sufficiently punished 
for a fault he had committed, and by a sort of spontaneous 
feeling of justice demanded additional correction. 

227. Education of the Moral Consciousness. — There 
are, then, in nature herself, the germs of morality. It 
would be impossible, in fact, to suggest the idea of the good, 
if the reason did not contain the principle of it. 

" The child carries within himself the moral law, at first 
unconsciously, in the latent state ; then little by little it dis- 
engages itself, rises from the mysterious depths of consciousness, 
and makes its presence felt by mute agitations; then it finds a 
voice, it speaks, it commands, it signifies its will by injunctions 
more and more clear, more and more emphatic ; and finally, when 
it is misunderstood, by that indefinable suffering, now dull, now 
sharp and piercing, which is called remorse." ^ 

Surely the natural evolution of the individual tends of 
itself to produce moral conceptions ; but the educator can aid 
this development. For this purpose it is necessary that he 
exercise the child in judging of the actions of others ; that in 
accurate and striking narratives he show him men who have 

1 M. Egger, op. cit, p. 68. 

2 M. Perez, La Psychologic de I 'enfant, p. 343. 
8 M. Vessiot, op. cit, p. 33. 



*218 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

clone good or evil ; that he be required to express his opin- 
ion on tlie virtues and vices of others, and invited to give 
liis reasons why such an action seems to him good and 
another bad. The child should also be allowed to accomplish 
at his own risk and peril the actions suggested to him by 
his own initiative ; he should be accustomed at an early hour 
to make decisions, and thus acquire the feeling of his own 
responsibility ; and should be furnished with frequent occa- 
sions for overcoming his inclinations and for conquering his 
evil instincts.^ 

In other terms, we must appeal as early as possible to the 
experience of the child. Moral conceptions cannot be trans- 
mitted from without like geometrical truths ; they ought to 
spring spontaneously from personal reflection and internal 
emotions. Conscience will l)e slow to appear in children 
who have not been accustomed to act for themselves or to 
judge of the actions of others. 

" It is within himself," continues the author whom we have 
just quoted, " that the child carries his rule of conduct ; it is 
within himself that he must be taught to look for it ; and when 
the teacher commands, he should try to make it understood that 
it is not in his own name that he speaks, but in the name of the 
moral law which is inscribed in the heart of tlie child, and of 
which he, the teacher, is but the echo and the interpreter. To 
lead the child to behave in the absence of his teacher, and of all 
those who have the authority to make him do right and punish 
him for having done wrong, just as he would beliave in then- 
presence ; within himself to establish a point of support against 

1 This was the method followed by Pestalozzi. " Instead of giving 
his children direct lessons in morals, he shrewdly took advantage of 
all the events which occiu-red in the house. They were so numerous 
that each day presented many occasions for making felt the difference 
between good and evil, between what is just and what is unjust. 
( I'ompee, Etudes sur Pestalozzi, p. 250.) 



MORAL EDUCATION. 219 

himself; to make him see that he can succeed in governing him- 
self without the help of others, and to lead him insensibly to 
do without that exterior direction ; this is the true method of 
education. " ^ 

In other terms, it is necessary that every moral virtue 
taught to children should be intimately connected, as 
Pestalozzi said, " with an intuitive and sensible experience 
which is their own." ^ 

228. Difficulties of this Education. — There is such 
a distance between the natural state of the child, caring 
simply for his pleasures and his interest, and the normal 
state of an enlightened conscience, that at first thought we 
might be tempted to despair of success and to believe impos- 
sible the evolution which leads the aiind to the conception of 
the good. 

But in this delicate work nature has provided us with 
powerful auxiliaries ; and if it is difficult to suggest to the 
child the abstract idea of duty, it is very much easier to 
accustom him practically to fulfil certain duties. 

Especially when it is a question of duties towards other 
men, the child will be aided by his natural feelings of 
sympathy and benevolence ; and from the practice of these 
duties there will gradually be evolved the idea of duty in 
itself. 

1 M. Vessiot, op. cit, p. 35. 

2 " Elementary moral education," said Pestalozzi, " comprises three 
distinct parts : it is first necessary to give children a moral conscious- 
ness by awakening in them pure feelings ; it is next necessary to 
accustom them by practice to conquer themselves in order to devote 
themselves to whatever is just and good ; and finally, they must be 
led to make, by reflection and comparison, a just idea of law and of 
the moral duties which are incumbent on them from their position 
and their siirroundings." (Roger de Guimps, Histoire de Pestalozzi, 
p. 206.) 



220 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" It is from the first movements of the heart," exclaims Rous- 
seau, " that arise the first voices of tlie conscience ; from the 
feelings of love and hate are born the first notions of good and 
evil ; justice and goodness are not mei-e al)stract terms conceived 
by the understanding, but real affections of the soul enlightened 
by reason." 

The virtues relative to personal duties will be acquired 
with more difficulty ; but here again the natural emotions, 
such as self-love and the sentiment of the useful, will come 
in aid of moral education. We are in no wise forbidden to 
show the child that his interest and his duty are in accord in 
imposing on him moderation in his desires and resistance to 
his evil inclinations. 

But, above all and in all periods of the moral life, example 
will be the great teachei*. Before imposing a moral law on 
the obedience of the child as a rule of command, it must be 
proposed to his imitation as an insinuating example. A 
child is above all else an imitator, and the great secret of 
moral education is to know how to take advantage of this 
instinct. Let us not forget that perhaps the most beautiful 
book of religious ethics is entitled, " Imitation of Jesus 
Christ. " 

229. Power of the Imitative Instinct in the Child. — 
The power of the imitative instinct in the child is due to 
several causes ; and first of all to his ignorance. Having as 
yet at his disposal but a small amount of knowledge and a 
very slender stock of ideas, the child is at the mercy of the 
perceptions which incite him on all sides. His supple 
thought, free from prepossessions, responds to the call of 
exterior images, and follows without resistance the current 
into which it is urged by the impressions which strike it. 
On the other hand, the child is weak ; he is lacking in per- 
sonality. He needs to act, but his will does not yet exist. 



MOEAL EDUCATION. 221 

Powerless to act from his own initiative, he acts in accord- 
ance witli what he sees others do. His weakness is the 
principal cause of his imitative disposition. 

Sympathy is still another source of the imitative instinct. 
We all have a secret tendency to put ourselves in agreement, 
in our sentiments and actions, with the men who surround us, 
and particularly with those whom we love. To love any one 
is to desire to resemble him. The child who feels an ardent 
affection for his companions is naturally inclined to imitate 
them. The more causes of sympathy there are, such as 
resemblances in condition or age, the more powerfully will 
the imitative instinct manifest itself. 

Finally, let us add that in imitation, however slavish it 
may appear, there is sometimes, as it were, a first soaring of 
the child's liberty, of his aspiration after the ideal. The 
child wishes to rise superior to himself ; and this is why he 
will imitate by preference, after his companions, his supe- 
riors and his teachers. 

" All men have a tendency towards imitation, but this is par- 
ticularly noticeable in the child. Not yet having a pronounced 
individuality and a strong character, he does not suffice for him- 
self. He easily yields to an impulsion from without. The per- 
sons who surround him act upon him more than he acts upon 
them, and he is readily moulded after the pattern which they 
set before him, especially if they are older, stronger, more 
capable, and more experienced than he is."^ 

230. Historical Examples. — If it is true that none of 
our actions are lost to us, that each of our deeds, good or 
bad, has its effect upon our future conduct, and aids in 
directing the current of our life towards the good or 
towards the bad, it is also certain that the actions of 
other men, of those who have preceded us on this earth, 

1 Gauthey, op. cit., II., p. 388. 



222 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

as well as of those who are living around us^ exercise 
upon our character, however little they may be present to 
our imagination, a profound influence. The past sheds 
light upon the present. Souls that have disappeared live 
again in the souls of the new generation. Tlie examples of 
the ancients mould the minds of those who have just come 
upon the theatre of life, and, as some one has said, "the 
dead govern the living." 

Present to the child, then, all the beautiful and noble 
lessons which history teaches. By narratives and por- 
traitures infuse into him the virtues which have made his 
ancestors illustrious. 

"Towards the achievement of a-jioble life," says an English 
teacher, " there is nothing more important than an imagination 
well decorated with heroic pictures ; in other words, there is no 
surer method of becoming good, and it may be great also, than an 
early familiarity with the lives of great and good men. . . . There 
is no kind of sermon so effective as the example of a great man. 
. . . Let us, therefore, turn our youthful imaginations into great 
pictiu-e-galleries and Walhallas of the heroic souls of all times 
and of all places ; and we shall be incited to follow after good 
and be ashamed to commit any sort of baseness in the direct 
view of such a ' cloud of witnesses.' " ^ 

Of course it is not proposed to make of our pupils so 
many heroes, — the occasions for heroism are rare ; but still 
we must not fear to present to children a very elevated 
moral ideal. He who has been made capable of being heroic 
on one solemn occasion, will be more surely virtuous at 
every hour of his life. Tlu'U familiarize the mind which is 
to be made moral "with the real blood and bone of human 
heroism which the select pages of biography present." 
From this high moral excitation something will be reflected 

1 Blackie, op. cit, pp. 81, 82. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 223 

even on . the most common and the most hnmble social 
conditions. 

But history holds in reserve, in order to offer them to 
the imitation of those who study it, very many examples 
of familiar and simple virtues accessible to aU. The Lives 
of Plutarch, to cite but this author, contain a treasure of 
beautiful models by which the whole world may profit, and 
which are, as has been said, " the very matter out of which 
every moral force will always be made." 

231. Living Examples. — But there is something which 
is worth even more than the example of the dead ; this 
is intercourse with the living. The child prefers to imitate 
those whom he sees, those whom he meets. The finest 
historical narratives are cold, compared with the real and 
present example of a virtuous life. A good man not only 
assures his own virtues, but contributes to the virtue of 
others by the magnetic influence which he diffuses about him 
wherever he goes, and by the beneficent radiance of his 
moral qualities. There is a contagion of good, as well as a 
contagion of evil and of disease. 

Some of the best souls in this world have acquired their 
moral superiority less by an effort of their will than by a 
natural imitation of the good people who suiTound them. 
How many families there are in which virtue is a tradition, 
an inheritance, which is transmitted from parents to children 
as surely and as directly as a patrimony ! Marcus Aurelius, 
the wise Roman Emperor, relates in his Thoughts that he 
was indebted to several members of his family for some 
of his best qualities. 

" My uncle," he says, " taught me patience ; from my father I 
inherit modesty ; to my mother I owe my piety." 

Happy the men who, like Marcus Aurelius, breathe from 
the day of their birth an atmosphere of virtue, and to 



224 THEORETICAL" PEDAGOGY. 

acquire good morals have only to submit to the gracious and 
natural incitements of example. 

" Of all the ways whereby Children are to be instructed and 
their manners formed, the plainest, easiest, and most efficacious 
is to set before their Eyes the Examples of those things you 
would have them do or avoid. . . . Virtues and Vices can by 
no Words be so plainly set before their understandings as the 
Actions of other men will show them, when you direct their 
observation, and bid them view this or that good or bad Quality 
in their Practice. . . . Nothing sinks so gently and so deep into 
Men's minds as Example." ^ 

232. Examples and Pkecepts. — It must not be imag- 
ined, however, that example, wliich is precept in action, 
absolves us absolutely from abstract precept, which appeals 
to the mind. It is well to present to the child, in a clear 
and expressive form, the principal maxims of duty, and to 
nourish his memory with beautiful moral sentences. Always 
present to the imagination, these formulas will lend us 
support against the temptations of pleasure and the 
sophisms of passion ; they will preserve us on many occa- 
sions of weakness. 

" It is well," says an author whom we have often quoted, " to 
carry about with us the purifying influence of a high ideal of 
human conduct, fervidly and powerfully expressed. Superstitious 
persons carry amulets externally on their breasts; carry you a 
select store of holy texts within, and you will be much more 
effectively armed against the powers of evil than any most 
absolute monarch behind a bristling body-guard. Such texts you 
may find occurring in many places, from the Kalidasas and 
Sakyamunis of the East, to Pythagoras, Plato, Aristotle, and 
Epictetus in the West ; but if you are wise, and above the seduc- 
tion of showy and pretentious novelties, you will store your mem- 
ory early in youth with the golden texts of the Old and New 
Testaments." ^ 

1 John Locke, op. cit., p. 81. '^ Blackie, op. cit., p. 79. 



MORAL EDUCATION. 225 

We do not believe in the magic power of words ; but who 
does not know by experience what power there is in a 
moment of moral crisis, in an idea suddenly evoked from a 
maxim or from a rule of conduct, especially if this precept is 
associated with the recollection of the one who has transmit- 
ted it to us, — the image of a mother, a father, a venerated 
teacher ? 

But to be efficacious the precept must deeply penetrate the 

soul ; it must not remain merely on the lips or in the memory, 

but must become, so to speak, a living part of the conscience. 

vWe must not be content with a borrowed morality, founded 

on maxims learned out of books. 

" What would be thought," said the wise Plutarch, " of a man 
who, going to his neighbor in search of five, and finding the 
hearth all aglow, should stay there to warm himself and no 
longer think of returning to his own home ? " 

This is the picture of a man who is content to recite well- 
conned moral discourses ; who to be sure of conducting him- 
self properly has always to consult a book, as a sort of 
gospel ; and *who has not been able to kindle in his own 
heart an inner fire of noble inspirations. 

233. The Love of the Good. — Exercised and instructed 
by his own experience, accustomed to take account of his 
own actions, to judge the actions of others, and to weigh the 
consequences of them, initiated by his acts into the joy of 
duty accomplished, encouraged by the examples which have 
been set before him, sustained by the exhortations and 
precepts of his teachers, the child will rise little by little to 
the moral life. In this complex work, of which Mr. Bain has 
said that "the conditions to be fulfilled are so numerous that 
it is hardly possible to indicate with precision the best 
method to be adopted," the principal part belongs, not to 
books, not to lessons, but to the character of parents 



226 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

and teachers. The moral law cannot be for the child 
a cold, impersonal al)straction ; it must be made incarnate 
in a living being. Tlie father, the mother, and the 
teacher represent to the eyes of the child the moral law ; 
and they should represent it, not as impassive, unfeeling 
beings, but as living personalities who are touched at the 
sight of evil, who are full of affection and tenderness. If 
religion has such a profound influence upon tlie dcA-elop- 
ment of morality, it is because it presents to the minds 
of men the idea of a supreme father, the benefactor of 
humanity, who by his sovereign will requires virtue of his 
children. The knowledge of what is good does not suffice ; 
there must be joined to this the love of what is good. And 
it is by loving virtuous men set before him for examples, and 
by loving a divine model of every virtue, that the child will 
come to love the good himself. 



CHAPTER XL 

WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 

234. Knowledge and Will. — The more we enlighten 
the intelligence the more we develop the moral conscious- 
ness. It suffices to throw a glance over the morals of the 
ancients and over the morals of the moderns, to judge of 
the progress which men have gradually made in the knowl- 
edge of their duties. Men often do wrong through igno- 
rance of what is right. Moreover, the knowledge of what is 
right implies in itself a certain power of determination 
towards the right. To know exactly where one's duty lies 
is of itself one excellent condition for doing one's duty. 
Let us admit, however, that knowledge does not suffice, that 
there must be added to it will or moral energy. How many 
men are capable of making marvelous dissertations on all 
the shades of duty, and yet are incapable of becoming virtu- 
ous men ! They cannot will the good which they know. 
It is the reason that judges what must be done, but it is 
the will alone which determines us to do it. The education 
of the will, then, is one essential part of moral education. 

235. Definition op the Will. — In the eighteenth cen- 
tury the term will was sometimes emplo3'ed to designate 
all the powers of the soul except tlie intelligence, — the 
inclinations, the tendencies, the desires ; and Condillac said 
of the will, " that it comprehends all tlie operations which 
are born of need." In contemporary psychology the signifi- 

227 



228 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY, 

cation of the term " will " is better defined, more fixed ; and 
the will, or power to do what we wish, properl}- designates 
the power which the soul has of self-determination, con- 
sciously and with reflection, spontaneously and freely, 
towards an act of its own choice. 

236. The Will in the Child. — The will thus under- 
stood is, like the reason, a prerogative of man. Man alone, 
in the full exercise of all his faculties, is capable of willing. 
Doubtless the animal and the child are capable of self-de- , 
termination ; they act, and by an abuse of terms the princi- 
ple of these determinations and actions is called will. But 
this irreflective power of determination and action is but a 
semblance of will. The child is obstinate, but he has no 
will. In him, as in the animal, action, however spontane- 
ous it may be, is not master of -itself. Provoked by blind 
desire, by irresistible need, by disorderly caprice, it is not 
in possession of itself ; it is but the pale image of the real 
human will, which reflects, calculates, knows where it goes, 
and consequently masters itself and governs itself. 

237. DiEPERENCE BETWEEN WiLL AND DeSIRE. The 

will is surely something else than desire. It is not possible 
to admit, with certain philosophers, that the will is but an 
ardent and strong desire, just as the attention is but a domi- 
nant sensation. The will thus understood would not affran- 
chise us from our inclinations and our passions ; it would 
be but the consummation of desire. It would be included 
in the category of passive, fatal dispositions ; it would not 
be the principle of liberty. 

Desire is but the solicitation of an agreeable object which 
procures us pleasure, and thus invites us, and sometimes de- 
termines us, to go in search of it. The will, on the con- 
trary, is the resolution which we take of ourselves to 
accomplish an act, agreeable or disagreeable, as the case 
may be. 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 229 

There are cases where desire and will are in accord, — 
where we will wliat we desire ; but even then our conscious- 
ness sharply distinguishes the attraction which the thing- 
desired exercises on the feelings, from the power which we 
have of yielding to tliat attraction. 

In other cases the will is in opposition to desu-e ; and it is 
then especially that the distinction between the two facts is 
clear and striking. For example, indolence attracts me and 
pleases me ; all the pleasures of the far niente haunt my 
imagination ; all my bodily inclinations incline me to indo- 
lence ; and yet, sustained by the idea of my interest or of 
my duty, I resist these impulses ; I will to work, and I set 
myself to work. How, in this case, and in all analogous 
cases, can we confound desire and will, the current and the 
power which ascends the current ? 

Finally, in other cases, the desire is the only thing ; by its 
violence it carries away the soul, which has neither the time 
to reflect nor the power to will ; but the act is then no more 
voluntary than the mind is truly attentive when it is domi- 
nated and absorbed by a sensation. The fixity of thought 
which allows itself to be captivated and made immobile, so 
to speak, by a powerful impression, is no more attention 
than the impulse of desire is will. Just as the attention 
disengages and transports the thought, attaches it to the 
object which it has chosen, or detaches it from it when it 
pleases, so the will withholds, arrests, or pursues the act 
which it has resolved on. 

238. Difference between Will and Idea. — But some 
one will say, if the will is distinguished from desire and 
from sensibility, it is precisely because it is confounded with 
idea and with intelligence. In fact, motives borrowed from 
our prevision, from our reason, are the only ones which can 
counterbalance the attraction of desire and assure the tri- 



230 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

umph of the will ; but because the will grafts itself, so to 
speak, upon au idea, it is no reason for thinking that it is 
the same thing as the idea. Does it not happen to us every 
moment to have a very definite idea of a thing to be done, 
and yet not to do it, because we do not will to do it? 

239. Relation of the Will to the Sensibilities. — 
But after having shown that the will is something distinct 
and irreducible, after having proved that it is an inde- 
pendent power, we must hasten to add that this inde- 
pendence is not absolute ; that in order to will it is not 
useless to desire, and that it is necessary to think. 

Let us not imagine, then, that to prepare in man for the 
reign of the will, we must destroy in the child the empire 
of the desires. Children of little sensibility are very likely 
to become men of little energy. On the contrary, lively, 
ardent inclinations will be the cradle of a strong will, 
provided reflection co-operates with them.^ 

Let us excite the desires of the child, while giving them 
direction ; let us teach him to love more and more what 
he ought to love ; and, enlightened by intelligence, his 
desires will be transformed into wills. 

But the will, however energetic we may suppose it to be, 
is almost always too weak to carry on a constant struggle 
with the inclinations. In this contest, it would very soon 
exhaust its forces. 

Doubtless the will manifests all its power only in 
effort and in contest ; but, happily, the contest is not 
always necessary ; and if there are toiling, heroic wills 
which triumph over the passions which they resist, there 
are also compliant, easy-going wills, which are but the 

1 Mr. Sully justly remarks that the exercise of physical activity is 
itself a rudimentary educatiou of the will. 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 231 

adhesion of a well-endowed soul to legitimate desires. In 
fact, most wills are of this sort ; and in the ordinary course 
of a well-regulated life, that which is willed is at the 
same time that which is felt and loved. 

The end of education ought, then, to be to associate and 
to unite desire and will, — to bring into accord pleasure and 
duty. Whatever can be done to give the inclinations 
wisdom, will also profit the will and will make its exercise 
easier. 

240. Relation of the Will to the Intelligence. — 
The philosophers of the seventeenth century, especially 
Bossuet, included the will among the intellectual opera- 
tions. Every act of the will certainly implies an act of 
thought. The will might be defined a thought in action. 
There is no will, a philosopher has said, where there is no 
reason for willing. In proportion as we are more enlightened, 
and especially as we are more reflective ; as we conceive 
more clearly what we have to do, and the better under- 
stand why we ought to do it, the more are we our own 
masters, the more do we belong to ourselves ; in a word, 
the more will we have. 

Let us, then, train the child to reflect, not to form hasty 
resolutions, not to yield at the first blow to the calls of 
his desires, and to weigh the pros and the cons before 
adopting a determination ; and in this way we shall 
increase the strength of the will, whose power varies and 
is modified in proportion as our intellectual energy 
diminishes or augments. 

241. The Will and Liberty. — In showing the con- 
trasts and the agreements, between the will on the one 
hand and the sensibilities and the inti>lligence on the 
other, we have defined the essential characteristics of 
the will, which are reflection and liberty. 



232 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

There are no acts truly voluntary, save those which 
are delilierate, which suppose that a resolution has been 
taken after reflection, and the voluntary act is free, 
precisely because it issues, not from an inconsiderate 
and fatal instinct, but from a studied decision and from 
choice. Real liberty is nothing but the faculty of choosing 
with reflection and with a thorough knowledge of the 
matter, among several possible actions, tlie one which we 
prefer, the one which we think the best. Doubtless this 
liberty does not give us the power to break abruptly 
with our past, to loose ourselves from all solidarity with 
what we have already done, with our inclinations and our 
habits of mind ; it does not create acts absolutely inde- 
terminate, independent of all condition, — in a word, it 
does not perform miracles. But it does enfranchise us so 
far as this is possible ; it rescues us from the impulse 
of the moment, from the absolute empire of habit, from 
the yoke of passion, from the tyranny of fashion and 
of example ; it permits us to govern ourselves by our- 
selves and by our reason, and it is in this that we 
are free. 

242. Culture of the Will. — The culture of the 
will is one of the most delicate problems of education. 
To develop and strengthen the will, it is first necessary 
to respect the spontaneity of the child, wliich is the germ 
of his indepemlence and li])erty. Parents who are too 
anxious to "break the wills of their children " are pre- 
paring weak and flabby characters that will be incapable 
of self-control. 

Says Kant : " We must not break the wills of children, but only 
direct them in such a way that they will know how to yield to 
natural obstacles." ^ 

1 Kant, Pedagogie, p. 226. 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 233 

The same thought inspired Rousseau, when, in the 
first twelve years of Emile's education, he subjected the 
conduct of the child to the sole rule of necessity. 

" Let the child eaiiy feel upon his proud head the hard yoke 
which nature imposes on man, — the heavy yoke of necessity, 
under which every finite being must bend ; let him see that this 
necessity lies in things, not in the caprice of men." ^ 

It is going too far, however, to suppress in early 
education the commands of parents and teachers. It is 
well, on the contrary, that the will of the child feel other 
wills in contact with his own ; but on one condition, — 
that these wills shall themselves be well adjusted, and 
that the orders through which they manifest themselves 
shall not be followed by counter-orders, — that they shall 
be clear and inflexible. The caprices of a wavering 
authority which contradicts itself, can have only disas- 
trous effects. Pulled in different directions, the will of 
the child will itself become capricious and mobile. 

The child should be neither a slave nor a despot. 
He should neither be constrained blindly to obey 
unreasonable orders, nor crossed in all his inclinations. 
On the other hand, he should not be gratified in all 
that he wishes. 

" Parents," says Kant, " often make a mistake in refusing their 
children everything they demand. It is absurd to refuse without 
reason what they naturally expect from the goodness of their par- 
ents. 

" On the other hand, children are spoiled by gratifying all their 
wishes. Doubtless they are prevented by this means from show- 
ing their bad humor, but they become all the more headstrong." 

1 Emile, I., II. 



234 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

We must at the same time know how to yield and to 
resist, and especially to resist. By always gratifying the 
caprices of the child, by flattering his instincts, we doubt- 
less emancipate his will, but we also make it disorderly, 
and in a sense weaken it. In fact, will supposes effort, 
domination over one's self. By resisting the child, we 
teach him to resist himself. It is onh' through the 
acquired habit of obeying others, that he will later become 
capable of obeying his own reason. 

243. Practical Fepxing of Liberty. — There is a 
great practical interest in often pausing to reflect as 
follows, with reference to a proposed course of action : 
"Such a fault might have been avoided. Such a quality 
might have been acquired more quickly. Finally, some- 
thing different and better miglit have l)een done." This 
is a certain means of increasing our faith in the efficacy 
of our acts, of fortifying in our souls the most precious 
thing in this world, — I mean the actual feeling of our 
liberty, l)y ridding ourselves of that harassing notion of ne- 
cessity, of which Stuart Mill said, "The idea of necessity 
weighed upon my existence like an evil genius." 

Consequently, let us accustom the child to make 
frequent returns upon himself, to practice in a certain 
measure those examinations of conscience recommended 
by the philosophers of antiquity. The moral calendar of 
Franklin, who each day recorded the infractions which 
he had committed on the different precepts of duty, 
is an ingenious application of the same thought.^ 

1 In other terms, we must do for the mind what Colonel Amoras 
did for the body : he gave each pupil what he called a physiological 
chart, in which were noted the condition of each organ at the begin- 
ning of the course in gymnastics and the progress made after each 
month of exercise. 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 235 

244. Education in Liberty. — Man is really man only 
when be unites a firm and ever-ready will to vivid and 
elevated emotions, and to an enlightened intelligence. But 
this quality is rarer than we think. Doubtless if we con- 
sider only that inferior will which, while saying " I will," 
does nothing in reality but follow inclination or habit, — in 
this sense we use our will each moment of our life ; but if 
we must restrict the term will to a deliberate act, deter- 
mined on with reflection, who does not see that the human 
conscience rarely rises to this effort? The most often we 
act, I do not say without motive, which is impossible, but 
without reflective motive, and our actions are not really 
willed. There are men who are almost absolutely lacking 
in will, who in some sort do not belong to themselves, but 
who live a passive, mechanical life, the slaves of their own 
passions and the toys of exterior influences. Even those 
who reflect the most do not reflect as much as they might. 
There are within us treasures of energy which we do not 
know how to take advantage of, and we certainl}' have more 
reserve power than we have will. 

245. No Act is Indifferent. — For real training in 
liberty, and for assuring to it all its power, it must be boi lu 
in mind that no one of our acts is indifferent. If we yifiri 
for a single time to an evil inclination, while promising our- 
selves to resist it to-morrow, we are guilty of a grave impru- 
dence ; for to-morrow we will not have the same power of 
resistance. Every act performed is a 1>eginning of habit, 
and habit fetters the will. For the very reason that we 
have even once acted in a certain way, we shall be a little 
more inclined to act again in the same way. 

Then let us keep watch over all the acts of the child. 
Let us not excuse him from any fault on the pretext that 
this will be the only instance of it, and that it will be time 



236 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to correct it when it occurs again. In every desire, however 
feeble, there is a will in germ, in every action there is the 
beginning of habit. 

246. The Will and Habits. — The activity of the man 
and of the child manifests itself, as we know, under three 
forms : instinct, will, and habit. So far as possible, we must 
substitute will for instinct, — that is, reflective resolutions 
for blind impulses ; but must we oppose habits, as we 
oppose instincts ? No ; for it depends on us to make 
habit an easy way of doing without effort what we had 
previously done with reflection, with will ; habit consolidates 
the work of liberty. 

It has been said, not without truth, that " two obstacles, 
almost invincible, prevent us from being the masters of 
our wills, — inclination and habit." It would, however, 
be a grave and dangerous error to attribute to these two 
enemies of the will a power that cannot be over- 
come. Inclination can always be controlled, confronted 
with our interests and duty, and repressed by an ener- 
getic act of the will. As to habit, particularly at first, it 
is entirely dependent on the will, since it depends on us 
to prevent the repetition of the act which engenders habit. 
Even when it has become inveterate, we may succeed in 
conquering it, — if not at once and by a simple effort of 
the will, at least by a prolonged resistance and by skillful 
tactics. 

247. Necessity of Habits. — To a great extent, educa- 
tion is but the art of forming good habits. So we do not 
comprehend what Rousseau has said with more wit than 
sense: "Emile must be allowed to learn no habit, save 
that of having none at all." 

Even Kant condemns habits, for the reason that " the 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 237 

more habits a mau has, the less free and independent 
is he." 

The ideal of Kant and Rousseau would be a liberty al- 
wa3's active, which nothing would thwart ; a libert}' always 
alert, always in movement, which would determine itself 
anew in every circumstance of life. But habit is an "obe- 
dience," since it enchains us to the past.-' But the ideal of 
Rousseau and Kant cannot be realized. It is impossible 
to demand, at each moment of existence, that display of 
energy which is involved in each new exercise of liberty. 
Happily, human weakness may repose on good habits, 
which exempt it from efforts ceaselessly renewed, and 
which render the accomplishment of duty natural, easy, 
almost instinctive. The body cannot always be awake and 
erect ; it must sleep and recline ; and in the same way 
activity should not remain incessantly on the alert, — it 
must seek repose and must sleep, so to speak, in the easy 
and pleasant paths of habit. When the will has once 
purged the inclinations and regulated the habits, it can 
discharge itself in part upon the emotions and upon the 
routine government of the soul ; like a general who, iiav- 
ing pacified a country, sheathes his sword, but does not 
completely disarm, because unforeseen circumstances and 
changes in life may at any moment require new efforts 
of the will. 

Does some one object that habit diminishes effort, and 
consequently merit? We reply, with M. Marion, " Merit 
and effort are not the whole of morality. I am surer that 
a man will do right, when the right will cost him no 
trouble. "2 

1 See Vinet, L'Ediication la Famille et la Societe. 

2 M. Marion, in La Science de V Education, contained in the Reforme 
universitaire, April 1, 1885. 



238 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Then let us not demand of the will a continuous series 
of feats of strength. Moreover, the habits, however 
numerous they ma}' be, never suppress liberty, especially 
if we make of liberty itself, — that is, of reflective delib- 
eration, — a higher habit, which dominates all the others. 

248. How THE Habits are Formed. — There is great 
need, then, that education should form good habits, — 
habits of mind, habits of feeling, habits of action. How 
shall it form them? How shall it succeed in ci'eating 
that second nature which will constitute the final char- 
acter of the man? 

In truth, the habits are formed of themselves by the 
repetition of the same act. Some are derived from the 
inclinations and instincts ; others from reflective acts in 
which the will has co-oporated. The part of the educator 
is, then, to keep watch, both over the instincts and the 
first manifestations of the will. On the start he will cut 
short evil tendencies, and nip in the bud vicious inclina- 
tions. Evil must be cut away to the very root. 

"Habit," says Montaigne, "begins in a mild and humble fash- 
ion ; it establishes in us little by little, and as it were by stealth, 
the foot of its authority ; but it soon reveals to us a furious and 
tyrannical face, and we shall hardly be able to rescue ourselves 
again from its hold." 

The teacher will prevent the rise of bad habits by 
opposing bad acts by all the means in his power, — by 
punishments if need be. To promote the formation of 
good habits, he will have only to encourage the child in 
acting, and with the aid of time the habit will be 
formed. It is hardly possil)le to impose, in a trice, 
new habits which will be in contradiction with the nature 
of the child. If the act which you command is repugnant 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 239 

to him, that act, performed contrar}' to his will, will not 
leave I)ehiiid it a certain tendency to reproduce itself, 
which is the essential condition of the formation of habits. 
If, then, it is a question of habits that are somewhat dif- 
ficult, to which the child does not tend of himself, try to 
manage the transitions ; try to find the favorable moment 
when the action which we wish to transform into a habit 
will cost the child the least trouble. Let us be content, 
at first, if he performs the act with indifference ; he will 
next repeat it with pleasure, and the habit will be 
formed. In a word, let us insinuate habits, not impose 
them. " A new idea," said Fontenelle, " is like a 
wedge, — it must not be driven in by the blunt end." 

249. How Bad Habits are to be Corrected. — But 
whatever may be the supervision of the teacher, it is not 
claimed that under the inttnence of external circumstances 
a bad habit will not make its appearance in the child. 
Moreover, when he enters school the child has already 
contracted certain dispositions, certain bents of mind and 
of heart. Is it possible to correct the vicious element 
Avhich custom has once introduced into the activity of 
the child? 

Certainly this is not an easy thing ; and we might al- 
most always despair of success, if we had no other 
means for attaining this end than to make a direct attack 
on the evil inclination which has become a habit, espe- 
cially if we wish to succeed in this all at once. Time has 
presided over the formation of habit, and time is also 
necessary to assure its disappearance. Let us be patient, 
therefore ; let us be satisfied if we succeed at first in de- 
laying the reappearance of the evil act. Little by little 
the empire of the will will be established, and the child 
will gradually rid himself of his propensity, especially if 



240 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

we have had skill enough to establish different habits, 
which draw him in another du'ection. 

250. The Will and Education, Public or Private. — 
At first sight one would be tempted to believe that pri- 
vate education is more favorable than public education, for 
the culture of the will. At school, of course, everything 
is regulated in advance ; everything is uniform ; there is 
no initiative ; there is a common level ; the child is never 
abandoned to himself ; the shortest periods of the day 
have their definite occupation. At home, on the con- 
trary, the child belongs more to himself ; he is not sub- 
jected to a rule so inflexible ; he has the disposition of 
his own time and occupation ; he has more initiative. 

And yet, looking at things more closely, we oome to 
be convinced that the school is worth more than the 
home for an apprenticeship in effort. Left with his par- 
ents, the child grows effeminate ; under their direction, 
often uncertain and variable, his acts lack continuity ; 
he wavers at random between their contradictory orders 
and his own caprices ; he does not learn to obey a fixed 
and immutable law. Real will is obedience freely given 
to the moral law ; and to train the child to this obedi- 
ence, obedience to an exact rule is the best of prepara- 
tions. "Obedience to law," says an unknown author 
quoted by Madame Necker de Saussure, " subjugates the 
will without enfeebling it, while obedience to men in- 
jures and enervates it." 

Madame Necker does not hesitate to acknowledge that 
" public education has the decided advantage, so far as 
the strengthening of character and the development of 
manly virtues and energy are concerned." 

" In the family the child escapes slackness with difficulty. In a 
quiet household there is no energy to display. All the weak are 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 241 

protected; no one needs to defend himself or to defend others. 
This is a happy condition, doubtless, but power of soul is not ac- 
quired in this way. At college things do not go in this way. The 
young man learns to know his own rights, as well as those of 
others. He becomes accustomed to resist solicitations as he does 
threats, when he believes that equity is on his side. He learns the 
secret of good conduct, the art of putting himself on good terms 
with his equals, of knowing how far he may impose on them by 
his firmness, or of making himself loved by his condescension." ^ 

There are still other reasons that might be given. In 
the family the child does not easily have opinions of his 
own. He lives with persons who are his superiors in 
experience, whom he ought to respect, and whom for the 
most part he loves too much to annoy by differing with 
them in opinion. At school and college he lives with 
equals, and he has the right of free speech. In the 
family the instruction is generally too easy ; the lesson, so 
to speak, is all chewed; the child has not efforts enough 
to make to assimilate it. At college he needs to work 
more for himself, and to seek in personal reflection the 
means of comprehending a lesson uniformly given to all. 

251. Self-education. — It is not, however, at school 
that the education of the will is completed. It is only in 
society, in contact with the difficulties of life, that the 
human personality is really formed. And this is doubt- 
less why Comenius reserved to the university, — that is, 
to the free life of the student, — the task of developing 
the will. Experience is the true school of the will. 

" At college we smooth the path for the steps of the child ; but 
difficulty is precisely the education of the will. We teach, but 
one really knows only what he discovers. We are guides — of 
whom? Of those who ought to guide themselves." 

1 See Considerations sur V education publique et I'e'ducation prive'e. 



242 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

This opposition which exists between the development 
of the personal will and school life, even the mildest and 
freest, disappears the day when the child is handed over 
to himself. It is especially then that his voluntary ac- 
tivity will find occasion for exercise and growth ; but it 
is then also that his will will incur the greatest dangers. 
We will have taught him in vain to will in the narrow 
circle of childish activity ; he will be likely to unlearn 
this in the vast field of manly activity. 

" With the will," as it has been justly remarked, " the work of 
education is never finished. Tiae child wlio has learned to read 
has not to go back to it ; it is finished. Witli the will it is never 
finished ; we are always going back to it." ^ 

252. Difficulty of the Education of the Will. — 
With the aid of the will already formed, the success of 
intellectual education, as of moral education, is assured. 
But for the education of the will itself, where is the ful- 
crum, the lever upon which we shall press? 

Must there not already be a little will, in order that 
more of it may be acquired? What shall be done with 
the weak natures, which have no spring in them? Is it 
possible to give them will, if they have none? "It is the 
will which we have to right," says Gauthey, "and we 
would have it right itself. Let weakness produce 
strength, and evil engender the good."^ 

La Rochefoucauld said to the same effect, ' ' Weakness 
is the only defect which cannot be corrected." Happily, 
nature does not often propose to us this insoluble 
prol)lem. It is rare, if ever, that a child is absolutely 
deprived of the germs of will. If he has not enough will 
to oppose his defects, he will always have enough of it 

1 Rousselot, Pe'dagogie, p. 2G3. 

2 Gauthey, De I'Education, II., p. 266. 



WILL, LIBERTY, AND HABIT. 243 

to acquire certain virtues ; for, according to the remark 
of Bourdaloue, "it costs less to enricli one's self with 
a thousand virtues, than to cure one's self of a single 
fault." 

253. Good-will. — It would be of no account to train 
the will if there is not given it as a companion a love 
for what is good. la itself, in fact, the will may be an 
instrument of vice as well as an instrument of virtue. 
In their way, great criminals give proof of will-power. 
We may will the evil as earnestly as the good. 

It is, then, good-will that it is especially important to 
train and strengthen, — that good-will of which Kant said 
in a page which cannot be too often quoted : 

" Of all that it is possible to conceive in this world, and even 
beyond this world, there is but one thing that can be regarded as 
good without VGstriction, and this is a good-will. Intelligence, pen- 
etration, judgment, and all the qualities of mind ; courage, resolu- 
tion, and perseverance, or qualities of temperament, are doubtless 
good and desirable qualities in many respects ; but these gifts of 
nature may be extremely bad and pernicious, when the will which 
makes use of them and which constitutes essentially what is called 
chai'acter, is not itself good. 

" A good-will does not derive its goodness from its effects, from 
its results, nor from its aptitude to attain such or such a proposed 
end ; but simply from willing, — that is, from itself ; and, consid- 
ered in itself, it should be esteemed incomparably superior to 
everything that can be done by it to the advantage of a few 
inclinations, or even of all the inclinations combined. Were 
adverse fate or the avarice of a hard-hearted nature to deprive 
this good-will of all the means for executing its designs ; were 
its greatest efforts to end in nothing, and were it to remain 
nothing besides good-will, it would still shine with its own lus- 
tre like a precious stone, for it derives from itself all its own 
worth." 



244 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

254. Importance of the Will in Life. — Good- will, 
energy in well-doing, is the only thing which gives to life 
its value and its dignity. 

" If you imagine," says Mr. Blackie, " that you are to be much 
helped by books and reasons, speculations and learned disputa- 
tions, in this matter you are altogether mistaken. Books and 
discourses may indeed awaken and arouse you, and perhaps hold 
up the sign of a wise finger-post, to prevent you from going astray 
at the first start, but they cannot move you a single step on the 
road. It is your own legs only that can perform the journey; it 

is altogether a matter of doing You must have a compass 

of sure direction in your own soul." i 

In other terms, man must find in himself his own rule 
of conduct and the powers necessary to })ving him into 
conformity with it. The will is the essential agent of 
virtue. Moreover, it is not important merely for moral- 
ity of life ; it is necessary for happiness and success. 
Without it we would not succeed in the world, triumph 
over difficulties, and turn circumstances to our advantage. 
In affairs great or small, we have always need of the 
will. It is even an element in genius, which Buffon de- 
fined as " a long patience." The inventors and benefac- 
tors of humanity have accomplished their work only at the 
price of noble efforts and sturdy perseverance. Finally, 
at all steps of the social ladder, the will is the basis of 
the essential quality of man, — character. Character, in 
fact, is less the sum of our habits and tastes than the 
possession of a will that is strong, enlightened, just, and 
good, ^capable of coping with events; and a character 
thus constituted is the ideal of moral education. 

1 Blackie, op. cit, p. 78. 



CHAPTEE XIL 

THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS; ESTHETIC EDUCATION; 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION. 

255. The Higher Sentiments. — Moral education would 
not be complete if it contemplated only the culture of 
the affectionate and benevolent emotions, the development 
of the conscience, and the progress of the will and the 
moral energy. It should also keep in view the culture of 
the higher emotions which depend equally on the intelli- 
gence and the sensibilities, and in which are mingled both 
the highest conceptions of the reason and the noblest emo- 
tions of the heart. These emotions are the love of the 
true, a taste for the beautiful, the love bf the good, of 
which we have already spoken, and the religious senti- 
ment. 

256. The Love of the True. — Veracity. — Under 
its humblest form, the love of the true is the horror of 
falsehood ; under its highest form, it is the search for the 
truth, the scientific instinct. 

Educators have often studied the means of promoting 
in the child the tendency to veracity, which Mr. Bain in- 
cludes, with justice and benevolence, among the three 
fundamental virtues. 

The first and the best thing to do is to give the example 
of the most scrupulous veracity. 

Miss Edgeworth justly condemns the ingenious false- 

245 



246 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

hoods which Rousseau recommends to the teachers of 
children. " Sooner or later," she saj^s, "children discover 
that they are deceived, and then their distrust becomes in- 
curable. 'Honesty is the best policy,' must be the maxim 
in education as well as in all the other affairs of life."^ 

But example is not suthcient ; other precautions should 
be added. Rousseau has justly said that we should never 
tempt the veracity of the child, and question him on what 
he has an interest in concealing or misrepresenting. " It 
is ])etter," says Miss Edgeworth, "to suffer the loss of a 
broken glass than to put the child's sincerity to a test." 
If through misplaced severity we provoke a child to dis- 
semble his little faults, we may fear that, once having 
entered upon this course, he will persevere in it, and con- 
tract the habit of falsehood. 

On the other hand, when the child has freely acknowl- 
edged his remissness and blundering, let us show him 
that we are satisfied with his sincerity, rather than pro- 
voked by his faults. " The pleasure of being esteemed 
and of deserving .compliments," says Miss Edgeworth, " is 
delicious to children." 

If, on the contrary, the child is disposed to lie, show 
him, without scolding him too much, that the result of 
his dissimulation is the loss of our confidence. 

" A good means of correction," says M. Marion, " is to make 
it appear that we have less faith in the words of a child who has 
been caught in a falsehood, and to corroborate what he alleges 
by the testimony of his companions. He should be told, iu a tone 
of severity and sadness, that we feel under the painful necessity 
of not believing what he says, and on the contrary should impose 
implicit confidence in those of his companions who have never 
told a falsehood. 

1 Practical Education, Chap. VIII. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 247 

"The habit of falsehood must be very inveterate, if it resist a 
treatment of this sort judiciously employed." ^ 

In other terms, education in veracity will employ as in- 
struments the other emotions of the child : fii'st, his vivid 
desire to be loved and esteemed by his parents and teach- 
ers, and to possess their confidence ; later, the feeling of 
personal dignity which lying abases. 

257. The Search for Truth. — But this speaking the 
truth which we kuow is not all ; it is also necessary to 
search for truth which we do not know. Education has no 
more serious mission than to inculcate love of truth and 
to wage war on credulity and error. It will be assisted 
in this task by the child's natural curiosity, which, once 
excited, aspires to know everything and to comprehend 
everything. It is certainly not proposed to satisfy this 
curiosity in all respects, especially in the primary school ; 
but if the child cannot know all that is true, at least he 
should be taught nothing which is false. 

Education ought more and more to indoctrinate children 
with tiie scientific spirit, and should offer to their belief, 
not illusions which please them, but truths which instruct 
them. Then let us habituate the children to accept only 
opinions which lie within the compass of his thought, and 
which he can verify for himself. Without wishing to exer- 
cise his critical spirit prematurely, let us require him to 
express an opinion only in earnest and after reflection. 
Doubtless it is not proposed to make of him a little Car- 
tesian, who believes nothing which he cannot prove ; but 
so far as possible let us appeal to his reason. The 
pleasure which naturally accompanies the attainment of 
truth will gradually turn him aside from blind and irra- 

1 M. Marion, Lemons de psychologic, p. 196. 



248 TIIEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

tional opinions. He will come to love the truth for truth's 
sake ; will acquire a taste for knowledge ; will feel the 
need of personal research, and will taste the pleasure of 
discovery. 

258. Love of the Beautiful. — "We need not stop 
here to give an exact and rigorous definition of the heauti- 
ful. We leave this task to the teachers of aesthetics. For 
our present purpose beauty is defined chielly by the feel- 
ings which it excites in the mind, by the charm tin-own 
about us by the productions of nature and the works of 
art, by the admiration with which they fill us. 

That the little child is sensible of the beautiful is a 
fact which cannot be disputed. Certain animals even seem 
to have some vague feeliug of beaut}'. M. Perez proves 
by numerous examples that even before the third year the 
musical instinct and the instinct of visual beauty are de- 
veloped and manifested. In his affection for animals, in 
his preferences for certain persons, and in his taste for 
pictures, the child already proves that he distinguishes 
confusedly between what is beautiful and wliat is ugly. 
A pretty toy, an agreeable face, a brilliant flower, attract 
him and please him. 

259. -Esthetic Education. — A complete education can- 
not leave these natural dispositions uncultivated. It 
should develop them for their own sake, simply because 
they form a part of our nature, which would be mutilated 
if they were allowed to perish ; and it should develop and 
cultivate them for the furtlier reason tliat, if well-directed, 
they may have a happy influence upon moral education. 

A place must then be made for what might be called 
msthetic education. In its widest extent this education 
would comprise an appreciation of all the beauties of na- 



THE HIGHEK SENTIMENTS. 249 

ture and art, literary taste, the enjoyment of music, a 
knowledge of the plastic arts, and also the various talents 
which permit us not only to feel the beauty there is in 
the works of others, but to realize it in works of our 
own. We are not concerned here with that special culture 
which makes critics, artists, and poets ; but, considered simply 
as an element in general education, in view of assuring 
the happiness and relative perfection of the human being, 
(esthetic education is still important ; and it is to be regretted 
that in modern society it has not yet obtained the credit 
which it enjoyed among the ancients. 

260. Esthetic Education among the Ancients. — For 
making men moral, the ancients, particularly the Greeks, 
counted upon art even more than religion. At Athens, 
moral education was above all an sesthetic education. 
Plato thought that the soul ascends to the good through 
the beautiful. "Beautiful and good " are two words con- 
stantly associated by the Greeks. 

" We ought," says Plato, " to seek artists who by the power of 
genius can trace out the nature of the fair and the graceful, that 
oiu- young men, dwelling as it were in a healthful region, may 
drink in good from every quarter, whence any emanation from 
noble works may strike upon their eye or ear, like a gale wafting 
health from salubrious lands, and win them imperceptibly from 
their earliest years into resemblance, love, and harmonv with the 
true beauty of reason. 

" Is it not, then, on these accounts that we attach sucli supreme 
importance to a musical education, because rhythm and harmony 
sink most deeply into the recesses of the soul, bringing graceful- 
ness in their train, and making a man graceful if he be rightly 
nurtured, — but if not, the reverse, — and also because he that has 
been duly mu'tured therein will have the keenest eye for defects, 
whether in the failures of art or in the misgrowths of nature, an<1, 
feeling a most just disdain for them, will commend beautiful 



250 TIlEORETICxVL PEDAGOGY. 

objects, gladly receive them into his soul, feerl upon them, and 
grow to be noble and good; whereas he will rightly censure and 
hate all repulsive objects, even in his childhood, before he is able 
to be reasoned with ; and when reason comes, he will welcome her 
most cordially who can recognize her by instinct of relationship 
and because he has been thus nurtured V " ^ 

What Plato designates music would be called to-day art 
m general ; and in bis view art is, so to speak, a ladder of 
virtue, a preparation for the life of the reason. 

The ancients were always inclined not to isolate moral- 
ity, but to confound it, now witli the searcli for the true, 
and now with the love of the good. While Socrates af- 
firmed that the good and the true are the same thing, 
the Stoics proclaimed the identity of beauty and virtue. 

261. The Arts and Morals. — In fact, there are inti- 
mate relations between the arts and morals. 

"Art should be taught a child," says M. iMarion, "because it 
has an incomparable educating power. The heuutifid is essentially 
order and harmon)/. From the imagination and the mind, that 
order and harmony pass into the heart and soon manifest them- 
selves outwardly by elegance and grace; a just proportion is ob- 
served in the movements, and finally it reappears in the acts. 
Good taste easily takes the form of self-respect. Is it not a com- 
monplace to say that art softens public and private manners ? 
There are faults and moral tendencies, the idea of which a mind 
accustomed to live in companionship with the beautiful can 
neither conceive nor abide." ^ 

Evil, in fact, is an ugly thing ; and the delicacy of a 
soul sensitive to beauty is offended at it and spurns it. 
And if we make a minute study of the different beauties 

1 Republic, pp. 401, 402. 

2 M. Marion, Lemons de psychologie, p. 200. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 251 

which art and nature have contrived for charming and 
ennobling life, the moral influence of the beautiful appears 
still more striking. The spectacles of nature allay the 
passions and envelop us in their purity and innocence. 
The plastic arts at the very least reveal and communicate 
to us the grace and elegance of the bodily movements. 
Music, the most impressive of the arts, to which the ancients 
attributed a preponderant part in moral education, trans- 
mits to the soul a certain contagion of order and har- 
mony. Finally, poetry exalts and enchants us by its 
more formal inspirations ; it moves us Avith admiration for 
all the beautiful deeds which it celebrates, and which it 
proposes as models to the enthusiasm that it excites 
within us. 

262. The Arts as a Source of Pleasure. — The arts 
are not merely an element of moral culture, but deserve 
to be recommended also as the source of some of the 
sweetest, keenest, and also the most elevated emotions 
which human nature can enjoy. It is not possible to cut 
off man from pleasure ; so let us try to have him seek it 
and find it in the pure enjoyments of art. 

" We should recognize in the art emotions," says Mr. Bain, " a 
means of pleasure as such, a pure hedonic factor; in which 
capacity they are a final end. Tlieir function in intellectual 
education is the function of all pleasure when not too great; 
namely, to cheer, refresh, and encourage us in our work." ^ 

The artistic pleasures, in fact, have no disturbing or 
corrupting effect ; they calm and pacify the soul. Far 
from turning it aside from serious studies, they incline it 
towards them ; they compromise neither the delicacy of 
the emotions nor the strength of the reason. They oc- 

1 Education as a Science, pp. 96, 97. 



252 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

cupy, better than any otlier diversion can, our hours of 
leisure, the intervals of active life ; and when we leave 
them, we resume without effort and without disturbance 
the labors and obligations of our profession or trade. To 
those who might be tempted to deny the moral influence 
of art, and who might not comprehend what power it has 
to purify and ennoble the soul, we would reply further 
that the aesthetic sentiments are good in themselves ; that 
they bring us exquisite, salutary, and wholesome joys ; 
and that they are also good because they replace other 
emotions, and are substitutes for inferior pleasures of a 
purely material order, where morals are destroyed and 
the heart abased. "If we regard education as a means 
of making men happy," says Mr. Bain, "it ought cer- 
tainly to comprise a knowledge of the arts." 

263. Testimony of Stuart Mill. — In general, the 
most scientific minds, those most enamored of the truth, 
do not remain insensible to the charm of the arts. Thus, 
in his Memoirs, Stuart Mill relates that his early educa- 
tion, under the direction of an austere father, had been 
entirely devoted to abstract reflection, to logic, and to 
science. At three years of age he knew Greek ; at 
twelve, he was a logician ; at thirteen, he learned the in- 
tegral calculus. What resulted from this exclusively' intel- 
lectual education, from this inordinate instruction? During 
his years of adolescence he was seized with a profound 
sadness, a real disgust for life. At the age of twenty 
he was beset each day for a winter by a wish to drown 
himself. But a book of poems fell into his hands ; he 
formed a taste for music ; and he was saved, consoled by 
emotion. He then comprehended the importance of the 
first emotions and sentiments which attach us to life, by 
embellishing it with their charms. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 253 

264. The Arts in the Common School. — As yet the 
arts have had too little influence upon popular education. 
The child has so little time to devote to his instruction ; 
he must in five or six years learn so many things for im- 
mediate use, must acquire so much practical knowledge, 
that we hesitate to impose on him this new burden which 
comes from even an elementary study of the arts. 

And yet it is very desirable that popular education 
should not be exclusively subordinate to the pursuit of 
material interests, and that there should be reserved a 
place, the widest possible, for the disinterested culture of 
taste and the sentiment of the beautiful. 

" Would not the laboring man," says M. Ravaisson eloquently, 
" upon whom hard necessity imposes so heavy a weight, find the 
best alleviation for his hard condition, if his eyes were opened to 
what Leonardo da Vinci calls la bellezza del mondo ; if he also 
were thus called to enjoy the sight of those graces which we see 
scattered over this vast world, and which, made sensible to the 
heart, according to Pascal's expression, soothe more than anything 
else his sadness, and more than anything else give him the pre- 
sentiment and the foretaste of a better destiny?" 

265. Love for the Beautiful, how Cultivated. — 
From the child's earliest years he should be accustomed 
to inhale, so to speak, the beauties which surround him. 
Even in the country, where works of art are lacking, the 
pretty, beautiful, or sublime things presented 1)}' the spec- 
tacle of nature will suffice for this primary education in 
aesthetics. Later, the field-laborer will feel sustained in 
his rude toil by the love with which he has been inspu'ed 
for rural beauty. 

" Very early the child should be made sensible to the beauties 
of trees, flowers, bu'ds, insects, and all those marvels which he 
might perhaps pass by without seeing; he must be led to 



254 THEOKETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the pure source of the disinterested enjoyments of admira- 
tion." 1 

" For the language of the imagination," said Madame Necker 
de Saussure to the same effect, " the first vocabulary is to be found 
in nature." 

Says Herder also, " It is a proof of the profound barbarism in 
which we bring up our children, that we neglect to give them, 
from their earliest years, a profound impression of the beauty, 
harmony, and variety which our earth presents." ^ 

266. Indirect Means. — At school even the decoration 
of the class-room, the simple ornaments with which it is 
embellished, the pictures which adorn its walls, and the 
illustrations in the text-books, will be so many indirect 
means for preparing the child to enjoy whatever is beauti- 
ful. It is not possible to expect that the child in our 
school shall live, like the little Athenian, among the 
masterpieces of art, and, so to speak, in the midst of a 
world of statues. At least, so far as pcjssible, he should 
be surrounded by objects which do not shock his taste ; 
and even in his toys everything that is ugly or repulsive, 
everything that is of a nature to produce bad habits of 
hearing and seeing, should be avoided.^ The treasures of 
art should also be opened to him by visits to museums 
and libraries. 

1 Mile. Clialauiet, I'Ecole maternelle, p. 150. 

2 Herder, Idees, IL, Chap. IV. 

3 An elegant and judicious writer, M. Rigault, strongly insists 
on the disadvantages presented by the first playthings if they chance 
to be ugly. 

" Why is it that almost always there is made of the rattle, of 
that old man in metal which is the first plaything of the child, a 
deformed creature, hump-backed, with inordinate mouth and a hooked 
nose reaching to the chin ? The first imitation of nature which 
strikes the eyes of the child is the figure of a monster. He is Intro- 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 255 

267. Special Exercises. — But to these indirect means 
there must be added special exercises. These studies, 
however, should remain very elementary. 

" The school," says M. Rendu, " ought to make neither mechan- 
ists, agriculturists, surveyors, nor gymnasts ; and no more sliould 
it make musicians. Tlie school initiates the child into the sciences 
he will need when he becomes a man ; it makes a rough draft, but 
does not complete the picture." ^ 

M. Ravaisson, in the remarkable article to which we 
have already referred, gives his preference to drawing, 
and to the drawing of the human figure. But perhaps for 
the pupils of the common school, for the workmen of the 
future, ornamental and geometrical drawing may l>e more 
useful, and may prepare them better for the vocations 
which will occupy their lives. 

268. Culture of the Taste. — An elementary educa- 
tion in {esthetics ought to develop the taste, rather than 
talent for execution ; not that refined and purely critical 
taste, which simply spies out defects in works of art, and 
which is of advantage only to specialists ; but that cath- 
olic and beneficent taste which borders on entlmsiasra, 
which is interested in all forms of beauty, which is dis- 
played not merely in the appreciation of literary qualities, 
but in the enjoyment of all the arts. 

duced to art through the medium of the ugly. But this is not all; 
the body of this knock-kneed, hump-backed fellow is provided with 
a shrill whistle, the sound of which tortures the nascent hearing of 
the child. This is intended, it is said, to divert him. Here is the 
first idea given to him of music, — his entrance on life is greeted by 
a false note. I am persviaded that each year in our country the 
education of the child by this wretched toy destroys in germ a host 
of painters and musicians." {CEuvres completes, IV. p. 276.) 
1 Manuel de renseignement primaire. 



256 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" Only a few are artists," says Mr. Bain, " and the rest enjoy the 

works produced by these Without being able to perfoi-m, 

one may acquire a taste for music by listening to performances. 
.... The group of arts addressed to the eye, — painting, design, 
sculpture, architecture, — are the enjoyment of many ; but their 
production is confined to a few. . . . Every literary teacher con- 
tributes to the poetic taste, both as enjoyment and as discrimina- 
tion." 1 

Without doubt it is literary and poetic taste that it is 
easiest to develop, because, first, the masterpieces in this 
line are more numerous than in any other, and then for 
the reason that models of literary art are within the 
reach of all, and it is not necessary, in order to enjoy 
them, to force the doors of a museum. 

269. Art as a Moralizer. — We cannot repeat too 
often that aesthetic culture concerns us less as a disinter- 
ested education of the artistic faculties than as an ally in 
moral education. It is this function of art which a con- 
temporary moralist has placed in sharp relief in the fol- 
lowing extract : 

" We know the system of those fathers, mothers, and teachers 
who imagine that in education scoldings alone are efficacious, 
and that we form and mould the soul only by the use of maxims. 
In this sort of instruction, or ratlier regime, if the maxims are of 
a nature not to be easily swallowed, it is thought best to resort 
to a wholesome deception ; the remedy is diluted in a fable, so 
that the patient may take it without suspecting what it is, in 
imitation of that physician of antiquity, who, not able to make 
his patient take a bitter herb, bethought himself to have a goat 
fed on it, so that the milk, thus impregnated with the medicinal 
virtue, might restore the deceived invalid to health. In this way 
a thousand sly and insidious ways are taken to infuse the precepts 

1 Education as a Science^ Chap. XIII. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 257 

of morality. Is not this to say in effect that honesty is a frightful 
and disagreeable thing, which must be persistently sweetened and 
adulterated in order to make it palatable? Even supposing this 
education to be good, is it the only one? Is it not likely that 
children will be more profited by living with an honorable man 
who lives nobly, who expresses only noble sentiments, who by his 
discoui'se and his example spreads around him a beneficent in- 
fluence, without ever resorting to the language of the moralities? 
It may be said that in society art resembles a noble man. If it 
is what it ought to be, if it is grand and pure and delicate, it 
instructs and purifies by its very delicacy, it teaches by its very 
presence." ^ 

270. Excesses to be Avoided. — But whatever may 
be said of the educative virtue of art, we must neverthe- 
less be on our guard against exaggeration, and oppose 
those who say that beauty is the secret of education, just 
as beauty is the secret of the universe. No ; unfortu- 
nately, the real education of man cannot be content with 
the gracious and vague inspirations of art ; the child can- 
not thrive on hymns and sonnets, in hymnis et canticis; 
we might just as well say that he ought to be brought 
up in games and a perpetual recreation. Esthetic pleas- 
ures may indeed be pure and elevated pleasures, but 
after all they are but pleasures ; they share the nature of 
emotions, and the emotions cannot be the rule of life. 

The abuse of the aesthetic emotions enervates and en- 
feebles the soul, and makes minds so extremely delicate 
as to be unable to confront with courage the unpleasant 
things of real life. "The delicate are unhappy," said La 
Fontaine ; and he meant by this that the delicate have 
not force enough to resist the trials of life, to surmount 
its difficulties and obstacles. Let us plant in the heart a 

1 M. Martha, in the Beoue des Deux Mondes, April 15, 1870. 



258 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

noble aspiration after the ideal ; but let us not forget 
that life is made up of realities, that existence does not at 
all resemble a pleasing poem, interspersed with songs, in 
which we have but to follow the seducing lead of the 
pleasures of taste. There are efforts to make, struggles 
to sustain, miseries to figlit ; and to prepare man for the 
combats of life there must be a virile apprenticeship ; we 
must develop the reason still more than the imagination, 
and must cultivate science more than art and poetry. 

271. The Religious Sentiment. — Whatever may be 
the importance of the religious sentiment in life, we shall 
make but brief mention of it here, since this sentiment is 
especially connected with doctrines and confessional be- 
liefs, with which the philosophy of education cannot 
concern itself. 

While in England and* elsewhere, " the schoolmaster of 
the primary school is expected to be an instructor in re- 
ligion, both in its own proper character and as a support 
of the highest morality," we have in France preferred to 
separate the school from tlie church, and to leave to the 
ministers of the different sects the duty of catechizing 
chihlren. 

Is this saying that everything relating to religious edu- 
cation ought to be discarded from instruction proper? 
Certainly not. Apart from forms and rites and particu- 
lar dogmas, tliere is a natural aspiration of man towards 
religion, — that is, according to the definition which M. 
Marion gives of it, "towards a body of ])eliefs wliich 
surpass positive Ivuowledge, and which relate to man's 
place in nature, as well as to his destiny." ^ 

In our opinion the part of the educator will be mainly 

1 La Reform universitaire, 10« le^on. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 259 

negative in such cases ; I mean that he ought scrupulously 
to respect all the l^eliefs of the child, and to sa}' noth- 
ing and do nothing which may wound the religious 
feelings which have been inculcated in him by his parents 
or his ecclesiastical teachers. But must anything beyond 
this be done? Must the instructor depart from this atti- 
tude of deference and respect, to intervene directly and 
actively in the culture of the religious sentiment? 
Many great and good men do not hesitate to reply in 
the affirmative. 

272. Religious Education in the Common Schools. — 
M. Paul Janet has clearly defined the proper sphere of relig- 
ious education in moral instruction. He speaks as follows : 

" The natural coronation of moral instruction in the common 
school will be the knowledge of God. Children will be taught 
that life has a serious purpose, that men are not the product of 
chance, that a wise thought watches over the universe, and that 
a vigilant eye penetrates all hearts. 

It will pertain to the j^articular sects to teach and prescribe 
regular exercises in traditional form. Special effort will be made 
to awaken in souls the religious sentiment ; they will be made to 
comprehend that the feeling and thought of God may be asso- 
ciated with all the acts of life, and that every action may be at 
the same time moral and religious, so far as it is the accomplish- 
ment of the will of Providence. Qui. travaUle prie, says the proverb. 
A life which strives to preserve itself pure and virtuous is a con- 
tinual prayer. As to stated prayer in a particular form, it is 
within the domain of positive relip;ion. It seems to us that this 
way of interpreting one's duties towards God can offend no one, 
for the state does not undertake to assert that a purely subjective 
piety is sufficient, and it leaves the different sects to show that 
it is not. Those who think in this way will feel only the more 
authorized to require parents to complete the religious education 
of their children by the instruction of the church." ^ 

1 Bapport, a la section permanent du Conseil Supe'rieur, 20 juin, 1882. 



260 THEORETICAL PEDAGOGY. 

273. Morals and Religion. — In speaking thus, M. 
Janet is inspired by some of the greatest masters of 
modern pedagogy, especially by Rousseau and Kant. 

For Kant, morals and religion are inseparable ; and 
between them are intimate relations. But the German 
philosopher understands these relations as follows : "In his 
view, morals is the base and source of religion ; it is re- 
ligion which is the consequence of morals. It is because 
one first believes in duty imperiously revealed by con- 
science, that he afterwards rises to the conception of 
God and to the hope of an immortal destiny." ^ 

"Religion," he says, "is the law which resides within us, so far 
as it derives its authority from a supreme legislator and judge; it 
is morals applied to the knowledge of God. When religion is not 
united to morality, it is no moi'e than a manner of soliciting the 
favor of heaven. Songs, prayer, attendance at church, ought to 
serve only to give man new strength and new courage to work for 
his amelioration ; they should be but the expression of a heart 
animated by the idea of duty. They are but preparations for good 
works, but not themselves good works, and one cannot please God 
except by becoming better. . . . The beginning must not be made 
in theology. Religion which is founded solely on theology has no 
moral element. It will embody no feelings save the fear of 
punishment on the one hand and on the other the hope of reward, 
that which will produce only a superstitious creed. Morality must 
then precede and theology follow; and this is what is called 
religion." 

In other terms, God ought to appear in the conscious- 
ness only behind duty. From the idea of law we rise to 
the idea of the lawgiver. The reproaches of the con- 
science are as the ambassadors of God in our soul. 

However difficult the course we have just indicated may 
be for the intelligence of the child, we are convinced that 

1 Kant, Pedagogic, p. 243. 



THE HIGHER SENTIMENTS. 261 

it is the only one which is admissible in lay teaching, in 
universal instruction. Let us not introduce the child into 
religious controversies ; let us be temperate on all those 
questions which divide men, and in which absolute clear- 
ness has not been attained. Religion is nothing if it is but 
a series of formulas learned by heart and imposed by force. 
Let us respect the liberty of the child, let us in no re- 
spect restrain his soaring towards the ideal, towards the 
infinite ; but let us not constrain him by obliging him to 
believe what he does not comprehend. Let us aim chiefly 
at morals ; let us build moral principles on such solid 
foundations that in a crisis which might carry away re- 
ligious beliefs, the belief in duty would not disappear 
with them. 



PART SECOND. 



PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 



CHAPTEE I. 

METHODS IN GENERAL. 

274. Practical Pedagogy. — Practical pedagogy is but 
the application of the general rules established in theo- 
retical pedagogy. After having studied the different facul- 
ties by themselves, both in their natural development and in 
their school training, it is proposed to examine by the light 
of these established principles the different parts of the 
course of study and the principal questions of discipline. 
In other terms, from the subject of education, the child, 
we now pass to the object of education ; that is, to the 
methods of teaching and to the rules of school adminis- 
tration. 

275. Method in General. — Method in general is the 
order which we voluntarily introduce into our thoughts, 
our acts, and our undertakings.-^ To act methodically 
is the contrary of acting thoughtlessly, inconsiderately, 
without continuity and without plan. Port Royal justly 
defined method as ' ' the art of rightly arranging a series 
of several thoughts." 

Understood in this liberal sense, method is applicable to 

1 M. Rousselot defines method as the straightest and surest route 
for the discovery of truth, or for the communication of it when it 
has been discovered. This definition is not satisfactory, because 
it omits the element which is absolutely essential to the meaning 
of the word. Method implies calculation, reflection, will. 

265 



266 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

all the parts of education as to aU the undertakings of 
man. The first duty of a teacher is, not to proceed at 
random, not to count upon the inspiration of the moment 
and upon the good fortune of improvised effort, but 
always to be guided by principles deliberately chosen, ac- 
cording to fixed rules and in a premeditated order. The 
lack of method is the ruin of education. There is noth- 
ing to be expected from a discipline which is hesitating 
and groping ; from instruction which remains incoherent 
and disorderly, which fluctuates at the mercy of circum- 
stances and occasions, and which, being wholly unpre- 
meditated, allows itself to be taken at unawares. 

276. Methods op Instruction. — In a more precise 
and particular sense, method designates a whole body of 
rational processes, of rules, of means which are practiced 
and followed in the accomplisliment of any undertaking. 
Just as for the discovery of truth there are methods 
which logic prescribes, there will also be, for the communi- 
cation and teaching of truth, other methods, the study 
of which constitutes practical pedagogy. 

Methods will vary with the nature of the subjects to be 
taught. Geography will be taught differently from gram- 
mar, and mathematics differently from physics. They 
will also vary with the age of the child. It is not possi- 
ble to present history to the pupils of a primary school 
in the same form as to the pupils of a high school. Con- 
sequently methods will vary with the different grades of 
instruction. They will be one thing in a primary school 
and another in a normal school ; one thing in general 
prinify-y instruction, and another thing in secondary in- 
struction. 

In other terms, methods of instruction should always 
conform to these three general principles : 1 , the special 



METHODS IN GENEEAL. 267 

characteristics of the branches of knowledge communi- 
cated to the child ; 2, the laws of mental evolution at 
different periods of life ; 3, the particular purpose and the 
scope of each grade of instruction. 

277. Methodology, so called. — The study of meth- 
ods of instruction constitutes one of the most important 
divisions of educational science. To give it a name, 
foreign educators have borrowed from philosoph}' the 
stately term methodology. Others have called it didactics, 
or the art of teaching. M. Daguet ventures the desig- 
nation metJiodics.^ 

Special works have been devoted to methodology, which 
itself is subdivided, and comprises several parts. In 
Belgium and in Switzerland the professors of pedagogy 
distinguish general methodology, which treats of the 
principles common to all method, from special methodol- 
ogy, which examiues in succession the different branches 
of instruction, and searches for the best means to be em- 
ployed in each science and in each study. It is a distinc- 
tion analogous to that which is found in treatises on 
Logic, where we study general method, applicable to all 
the sciences, before devoting special chapters to the 
method peculiar to each science. 

278. Utility of Methods. — Educators are very far 
from having come to an understanding as to the utility 
of methods and the necessity of studying them. Some 
are disposed to accord everything to methods, and others 
nothing or almost nothing. 

IMethods, according to Talleyrand, are the masters' 
masters. "The true instruments of the sciences, they 



1 M. Daguet, Manuel de Pedagogic, Neuchatel, 1881, p. 126. 



268 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

are to teachers themselves what teachers are to their 
pupils." ^ 

Pestalozzi, who however lacked method, and assures us 
that "he proceeded in his instruction without knowing 
what he did, guided only by very obscure but very vivid 
feeling," — Pestalozzi put a very^ high estimate on those 
systematic rules which he had not sufficient reflective 
power to impose upon himself. At certain moments he 
pushes to fanaticism, even to superstition, his enthusi- 
asm for methods, precisely because he was most lacking 
in them. He disowned himself, his own qualities of 
inspiration and feeling, and his ever-active and ever- 
vivifying personality when he pronounced these strange 
words : 

" I believe that we must not think of making, in general, the 
least progress in the instruction of the people, as long as we have 
not found modes of teaching whicli make of the instructor, at 
least so far as the elementary studies are concerned, the simple 
mechanical instrument of a method which owes its results to the 
nature of its processes, and not to the skill of him who employs it, 
I affirm that a school-book has no value, except so far as it can 
be employed by a teacher without instruction, as well as by one 
who is instructed." ^ 

It is not proposed to make of the instructor an autom- 
aton, and of method a mechanism which is a substitute 
for the intelligence and the personal qualities of the 
teacher. If we recommend the study of methods, it is 

1 " The purpose of methods is to conduct teachers in the true 
paths, to simpUfy and abridge for them the difficult road of instruc- 
tion. They are not necessary alone to common minds ; the most 
creative genius itself receives incalculable aid from them." {Rapport 
a VAssemUe'e constituante.) 

2 How Gertrude teaches her Children. 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 269 

for the especial purpose of driving from instruction 
routine and questionable tradition, and not of introducing 
into it, under another form, a sort of learned mechanism. 
Methods are instruments ; but instruments, however per- 
fect they may be, owe their whole value to the skill of 
the hand that employs them. To the paradox of Pesta- 
lozzi we oppose the wisdom of the ages, and the proverb 
which says, "As is the master so is the method." Let 
us also bear in mind that methods are not unchangeable 
regulations, despotic and irrevocable laws ; it rests with 
the initiative of the teacher to modify them according to 
the results of his own experience and the suggestions of 
his own mind. " Methods," as Madame Necker de Saussure 
says, "ought to be in a state of peipetual improvement." 
Thus understood, not as laws slavishly accepted with 
a superstitious respect, but as instruments which are to 
be handled with freedom, methods, no one will deny, 
may render important services. 

" Method," says M. Marion, " is a necessary condition of success, 
and, with respect to efficiency of service, it puts, as it were, an 
abyss between men of equal good intent. Descartes went so far 
as to say that, apparently eqixal as to intellectual endowments, 
men dLffer not so much by the power they have in searching for 
truth, as iu the method which they employ. The truth is that in 
every kind of practical work, other things being equal, he who 
proceeds rationally has at least three great advantages over him 
who lives on expedients, from hand to mouth. Starting with a 
fixed purpose, he runs less risk of losing sight of it and of missing 
his way. Having reflected on the means at his command, he has 
more chances of omitting none of them and of always choosing 
the best. Finally, sure both of the end in view and of the means 
of attaining it, it depends only on himself to reach it as soon as 
possible. ' A lame man on a straight road,' said Bacon, ' reaches 
his destination sooner than a courier who misses his way.' " * 

1 M. Marion, article Me'thode, in the Bictionnaire de P^dagogie. 



270 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

279. Abuse of the Study of Methods. — But, con- 
vinced as we are of the utility of methods, we do not 
think that it is necessary to pause to study the abstract 
generalities which dominate them. If this point is not 
guarded, the educators of our day will proceed to con- 
struct a sort of new scholastic, all bristling with learned 
formulas, subtile divisions, and pedantic terms. They 
will succeed in making of a very simple study, one wholly 
practical, a logic of a new kind and of a truly frightful 
aspect, in which fine words succeed fine words, and in 
which the real things are forgotten. Let us distrust the 
formalism which is always ready to set up its claims, 
because it is easier to inscribe words on paper than to 
awaken emotions in the heart or to enrich the mind with 
positive notions. 

Open one of those manuals of pedagogy which are so 
very popular in Belgium and Germany. You will there 
find interminable pages devoted to the distinction between 
principles, modes, forms, processes, and methods of instruc- 
tion.^ You will there see crowded tables which contain 
no less tlian eight forms of instruction : the acromatic 
form, or that of uninterrupted exposition, the erotematic, 
or that of interrupted exposition, which contains no less 
than seven other distinct forms, as the catechetic, socratic, 
heuristic, rep)etitive, examinative, ancdytic and synthetic, 
and the ^>araZof/ic. As if this were not enough, there fol- 
lows a subdivision of processes, as the intuitive, coni- 
paratioe, by opposition, etymological, by reasoning, descrip- 
tive, by internal observation, repetitive, synoptic, by re2')ro- 
duction, and eleven processes besides ! 

1 To note but one, see the Cours de pedagogic et de me'tkodologl, by 
M. H. Braun, inspector of the normal schools of Belgium, Brusso!?, 
1885, p. 954. 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 271 

What good can come from this tedious analysis, from 
this complicated enumeration, from this purely verbal 
science, in which hundreds of words are employed, and 
yet teach nothing of the things themselves? Teaching 
would become a very laborious art, were it necessary, in 
order to be a good instructor, to have lodged in the mem- 
ory all these definitions of pure form, all these insipid 
abstractions. It is said that modern education tends to 
approach nature. Alas ! we are far from nature with 
these distillers of pedagogic quintessence, who split hairs, 
who distinguish and analyze the simplest things, and in- 
vent several barbarous terms to designate identical opera- 
tions. For a long time it was thought that it was im- 
possible to reason well without knowing the categories 
and the rules of the syllogism. Let us not imagine, by a 
similar illusion, that in order to teach well one's memory 
must be stuffed with this pedagogic nonsense, with these 
nomenclatures as vain as pretentious. 

It is not only their inutility that alarms us. We also fear 
that they may divert the mind from more serious interests, 
and that this unsubstantial food may destroy the taste for 
more solid and substantial aliment. We fear that that 
which gives instruction its real power, — life, inner emo- 
tion, free and original inspiration, — may succumb under 
this maze of abstractions which fetter the mind and make 
it bend under the weight of these dangerous puerilities. 

Hence let us shun all those sterile discussions which con- 
sist in knowing, for example, which are the general prin- 
ciples, the special principles, the positive principles, the 
negative principles of teaching;^ or, still further, "whether 
analysis is a method or a form." ^ Let us be satisfied with 
a few definite notions, and as summary as possible. 



1 M. Braun, op. cit, p. 200. 

2 Ibid., p. 235. 



272 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

280. Methods, Modes, and Processes of Instruc- 
tion. — Witliout wishing to multiply distinctions, it is nev- 
ertheless impossible to confound with metiiods, properly 
so-called, what it has been agreed to call modes of 
teaching. 

Modes of teaching depend neither on the order which 
is followed nor upon the means which are employed for 
instructing children ; they have reference simply to the 
different groups of pupils and to different ways in which 
the instruction is distributed. 

There is the individual mode, as when the teacher ad- 
dresses himself to a single pupil ; or the simultaneous 
mode, as when he addresses himself to several pupils, as 
to a whole class ; or the mutual mode, when the teacher 
stands aside and requires the children to instruct one 
another. 

The individual mode is really appropriate only in private 
education, where a preceptor is face to face with a 
single pupil. At school there is no propriety in proceed- 
ing in this way, and it is difiicult to imagine a class 
where the teacher repeats forty times to forty pupils what 
it suffices to say once to all. 

It was this system, however, or something very like it, 
that was formerly employed in the early history of the 
school. In the seventeenth century, for example, the 
Ecole paroissiale, a school manual of the times, says in 
literal terms: "Those who go to the master to read 

shall present themselves but two at once The 

teacher shall call the writers to his desk, two by two, to 
correct their exercises."* 

All that remains, all that can remain of individual in- 
struction, in a class regularly organized, is the interroga- 

1 L' Ecole paroissiale, 1654, 3« partie, Chap. IV 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 273 

tion which the teacher addresses to a single pupil. Such 
interrogations should be made with a loud voice, in order 
that all the pupils may participate in the exercise. 

As to the mutual mode, it was but an expedient sug- 
gested by necessity at the time when teachers were scarce 
and resources were limited, and it was necessary at slight 
expense to instruct well or ill a very large number of 
pupils.^ Almost universally abandoned to-day, and virtu- 
ally condemned, the mutual system never had a claim in 
theory to be regarded as a rational mode of school 
organization. 

There remains the simultaneous nlode,^ which is the only 
one possible in classes more or less numerous, if it is 
desired that without loss of time the sound instruction 
of an experienced teacher, not that of a monitor witliout 
authority, should be directly transmitted to all the pupils. 

It is true that the simultaneous mode, though it is the 
general rule and the prevailing form of instruction, ought 
not to proscribe absolutely the incidental and exceptional 
use of other systems. So far as possible, the teacher 
ought, while addressing himself to all, to speak to each ; 
he ought to take account of the vivacity of some and the 
slowness of others ; he should vary his language, so as to 
accommodate himself to the different aptitudes of his 
pupils ; finally, he should not forget that, though his 
instruction is simultaneous, his attention and his efforts 
ought to remain individual. 

On the other hand, in very large schools and in those 
where a single teacher has three divisions to manage, the 

1 Swiss teachers distinguish a mode of instruction as the magistral, 
" that which is entirely given by the master, without co-operation on 
the part of pupils." 

2 See Compayrc's Ilistory of Pedagogy, pp. 513, 519; also Gill's 
Systems of Education, Chap. IV. 



274 PK ACTIO AL PEDAGOGY. 

master sometimes needs to appeal to the good-will of his 
best pupils, and thus to employ something like mutual 
instruction. This is what is called the mixed mode.^ 

281. Methods and Processes. — There might also be 
retained, although it is of less importance, the classical 
distinction between methods and processes, methods being 
the sum of the principles which preside over instruc- 
tion, assign to it its end, regulate its order, and deter- 
mine its course ; while processes signify the particular 
means which are employed in the application of methods. 
Thus to demonstrate geometrical truths is a method ; to 
exhibit them on a board, and then cause them to be re- 
peated by the pupils, is a process. To give a didactic 
exposition of liistorical facts is a method ; to require re- 
statements from pupils is a process. 

282. General Method. — The further pedagogy enters 
into the detail of methods and into the minute examina- 
tion of processes, the nearer it will approach its end, 
which is not to construct beautiful theories, but to render 
practical services. However, before entering upon the 
different varieties of studies, before searching for the 
rules which are especially adapted to each of them, it is 
not without use to throw a glance over the general methods 
of instruction and the rules applicable to all the parts 
of the programme. Besides being interesting in itself to 
reduce apparent diversities to unity, and to loolv for essen- 
tial principles in the multitude of particular applications, 
educators have so extended the list of methods, they 

1 By addressing himself to eacli of his pupils individually, the 
master learns to know his pupils better, to treat them according to 
their particular characters, and can bettei- follow the development of 
their minds. (Wilm, Essai sur I'e'ducation da peuple.) 



METHODS IN GENEEAL. 275 

offer us so great a luxuriance and so stately a display 
of pedagogical instruments, that it is necessary to sim- 
plify their classifications nnd to try to introduce some 
clearness into a subject which it seems so easy to make 
obscure. 

283. Classification of Methods. — It is no longer 
two or three methods which the classical treatises on 
pedagogy distinguish ; but if we are to trust these autliori- 
ties, there are more than a dozen different methods. In 
the presence of this endless catalogue we may well imag- 
ine that the teacher experiences a sort of dismay. Are 
there, in fact, so many ways of correct procedure? Does 
good instruction admit of so many refinements and com- 
plications ? No ; and it needs only a little attention to be 
convinced that these classifications and tabular state- 
ments can be easily reduced without any detriment to 
facts, and simply by pruning away a vain display of 
words. 

"We shall then place no reliance on the synoptical table 
of M. Daguet, who distinguishes methods as the educative, 
the rational, the practical, the progressive, the synthetic, 
the analytic, the intensive, the inventive, and the intuitive, 
to wliich must be added, according to other authorities, the 
experimental, the socratic, tlie inductive, the deductive, the 
demonstrative, and the expositive, without counting the com- 
posite methods which result from the coupling of two simple 
methods, such as the analytic-synthetic, the demonstrative- 
expositive, the denionstrative-interrogative, etc., etc. -^ We 
shall attempt to show that at bottom, behind this verbiage, 
there are concealed at most two or three real distinctions ; 
that methods might be reduced to two, if we regard merely 

1 We may still clistiiiguisli as methods the systems followed by 
different educators, as the methods of Jacotot, Pestalozzi, Froebel, etc. 



276 ' PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the order which is followed in the distribution and in the 
connection of the truths or facts taught ; and that at most 
there are four, if we take into account, not merely the in- 
terior nexus which connects the different propositions of 
which a given study is composed, but also the form which 
the teacher gives to his instruction. 

284. Interior Order of Truths which are to be 
Expounded ; Induction and Deduction. — Let us begin by 
considering the first element, the first factor of method, — 
the logical order which presides over the sequence of propo- 
sitions. 

From this point of view, the teacher who communicates 
truth, like the scholar who discovers it, has at his com- 
mand onW two methods, induction and deduction. He 
either takes facts for his point of departure, and having 
made his pupils observe and test them, he classifies them 
according to their resemblances, and leads tlie pupil to 
the law which includes them ; and this is the pedagogical 
application of the inductive method. Or he starts with 
general truths and definitions which he explains and 
causes to be comprehended, and by deduction he passes 
from these principles and rules to the ap})lications and to 
the particular cases which naturally flow from them ; and 
then the method is deductive. 

Let us take examples. If in the teaching of grammar 
we first present the rule and then seek to find its appli- 
cations, we proceed by deduction ; but if, on the contrary, 
we begin by presenting to the child examples or particu- 
lar cases, in order that we may then suggest the idea of 
the rule, the process is inductive. The teacher of geom- 
etry who at the outset lays down axioms and definitions, 
and then proves tliat such or such a theorem is the 
necessary consequence of them, gives a demonsti'ation, 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 277 

or, what amounts to the same thing, a series of deduc- 
tions. The professor of physics who appeals to the ob- 
servation of his pupils, who performs experiments before 
them, who shows them the bodies which are the subjects 
of study and makes an analysis of their elements, em- 
ploys in succesion the different processes of induction. 
In history also we proceed by deduction or induction, 
according as we set out with a definition, as of the feudal 
system, for example, or with the different facts which 
constitute the feudal system. 

285. Exterior Form of Instruction ; Consecutive 
Exposition or Interrogation. — But instruction does 
not differ merely by the inductive or the deductive course 
which is impressed on the series of propositions ; there 
must also be taken into account the exterior form which 
is given to instruction while transmitting it to pupils. In 
fact, we cau proceed in two ways : we may state the 
object of the lesson, and, speaking authoritatively, may 
teach by uninterrupted discourse ; or, by interrogating 
pupils and making suggestions to them, we may make 
them discover for themselves what we wish them to 
learn. ^ Hence a new distinction and two different meth- 
ods : the method of exposition and the method of interro- 
gation, or socratic method. 

1 Suppose we have to give a lesson on the distinctive characters of 
the three kingdoms of nature. I will either start with the division 
of the three categories of bodies, and then pass to the distinctive char- 
acters of minerals, vegetables, and animals, and end with examples ; or, 
following the same course, will proceed by interrogations, such as 
" What is meant by natural history 1 What is its triple object ? Of 
what does geology treat ? Botany ? Zoology ? What are the essential 
differences between minerals, vegetables, and animals ? Give examples, 
etc." (M. Horner, Guide pratique de I'instituteur, Paris, 1882, p. 9.) 



278 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

286. Examination of the Four Essential Methods. — 
But let us hasten to remark that the two elements of 
method, order and form, are not separated in fact : on the 
contrary, they are united. In other terras, whether we pro- 
ceed by induction or by deduction, we must either expound 
or interrogate. Consequently there are four general 
methods, to which all the others are to be referred : 

1. The method of induction, in the form of exposition. 

2. The method of induction, in the form of interrogation. 

3. The method of deduction or demonstration, in the form of 
exposition. 

4. The method of deduction, in the form of interrogation. 

Each of these methods has its characteristics and its 
peculiar advantages. In a general w^ay it may be said 
that the choice between deduction and induction is deter- 
mined mainly by the nature of the science which is to be 
taught. The mathematics hardly allow the use of any 
method but the deductive, while the physical sciences are 
to be treated inductively. On the other hand, whether 
preference shall be given to continuous exposition or to 
the system of interrogation depends in great part on the 
age and the intelligence of the children to whom we address 
ourselves. When Fenelon said, though with some exag- 
geration, "Employ formal lessons as little as possible," 
he was thinking particularly of little children, to whose 
weakness a long, uninterrupted discourse is badly adapted. 
Continuous exposition is, however, necessary in a great 
number of cases, were it only to obviate the slowness of 
the instruction. On the other hand, the interrogative 
method has the advantage of more directly calling into 
play the activity of the pupil ; it is tlie method of all 
others for promoting the discovery of the truth, for 
suggesting it without imposing it. 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 279 

287. Reduction of the Different Methods to these 
Four Types. — With this explanation, it is eas}' to prove 
that the most of the methods wrongly distinguished by edu- 
cators may be reduced to the four types which we have just 
established and are blended with them.^ 

For example, what is the method called the inventive 
except the method of induction and interrogation, — tliat 
which, avoiding didactic lessons, demands of the pupil a 
personal effort, and makes him discover for himself what 
we wish to teach him ? , 

It is useless to speak of the heuristic method, which 
differs in no respect from the inventive, save that inventive 
comes from a Latin word, and heuristic from a Greek word. 
Diversity of expressions should not make us think tliat 
there is a real diversity in methods. 

The demonstrative method is simply synonymous with 
deductive method, a demonstration being but a body of 
deductions. 

The catechetic^ method, which consists in stating ques- 
tions and demanding replies, does not differ essentially from 
the interrogative method, nor from the Socratic method, 
which requires the teacher, in imitation of the celebrated 
Greek philosopher, to stimulate the good sense and reason 
of his pupils by his interrogations. 

1 We cannot subscribe to the opinion of M. Buisson, who, doubtless 
through a reaction against the abuse of multiplying methods, falls 
into the opposite extreme and declares that, properly speaking, there is 
but one method of pedagogy, a universal method which embraces the 
whole of education. This is the intuitive method. — See his Rapport 
sur I'instruction primaire a VExposition universelle de Vienne en 1875, 
Chap. IV. 

2 This word is very fashionable in Belgium, where it is the root of 
a whole family of words. M. Braun defines catecJtesls, which is the 
lesson given in the form of questions and answers ; catechist, every 
man who teaches in this way ; and catechumen, the pupil instructed by 
this method. 



280 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

It is hj an abuse of words that M. Daguet decorates with 
the name of methods what he calls the educative, rational, 
practical, and progressive methods. These are the general 
characteristics of instruction, the essential tendencies of 
modern pedagogy ; they are expressions for the ends to be 
pursued; truly speaking, they are not methods, — that is, 
co-ordinated systems of means and processes.^ 

There remain the so-called analytic, synthetic, intuitive, 
and experimental methods, upon which much fuller explana- 
tions are necessary.^ 

288. Analysis and Synthesis. — I know of no terms 
more badly defined, or whose meaning has been more ob- 
scured by the misuse made of them, than the words analysis 
and synthesis. So it would cost me no regret to see them 
disappear from the vocabulary of pedagogy, where, with 
their pretentious and pompous airs, they bring nothing but 
great confusion and obscurity, without any positive advan- 
tage. 

Analysis and synthesis have in reality no precise meaning, 
save in chemistry, where they designate two inverse opera- 
tions which consist either in decomposing or in recomposing 
bodies, in separating or in uniting the elements which com- 
pose them. Everywhere else, in grammar, in mathematics, 
the words analysis and synthesis are employed only by an- 
alogy to express operations which have vague resemblances 
to the analysis and synthesis of chemistry. 

1 It has been justly observed that it is wholly improper to employ 
the word method to designate such or such a school process, as method 
of reading, of writing, of arithmetic, or of drawing. " It would seem," 
says M. Buisson, " that there are as many methods as branches of 
study or school manuals." 

2 We are far from having enumerated all the methods which it has 
pleased educators to distinguish and christen. There are still to be 
noted the natural, moral, historical, and universal methods. 



METHODS IN GENEKAL. 281 

289. Confused Use of these Words. — The clearest and 
most accurate thinkers fail iu their efforts to define the sig- 
nification of analysis and synthesis. For example, Littre 
tells us : 

"The analytic method, or method of decomposition, starts from 
actual facts and attempts to liberate their elements. It is also 
called the method of discovery. The synthetic method, on the con- 
trary, is that which, after having recognized a great number of 
truths, reunites them all under a general principle, and thus forms 
a synthesis of them. It is also called the method of doctrine, be- 
cause ivhen we teach a science loe ordinarily start from general princi- 
ples in order to deduce from them their consequences." ^ 

With due deference to Littre, the last part of this defini- 
tion is contradictory. To deduce consequences from a gen- 
eral principle is not at all the same thing as to include a 
great number of truths under a general principle. In the 
first case the process is one of real deduction ; in the second, 
it is rather inductive. 

290. Tpie So-called Analytic and Synthetic Methods. 
— A sufficient proof that it has been wrong to introduce the 
words analysis and synthesis into pedagogy, is the fact 
that different authors have not come to an understanding as 
to the use of these expressions. What some call synthesis 
others call analysis, and vice versa. 

Thus, for the greater number of educators, analysis is the 
equivalent of induction, of invention, of experimental re- 
search ; synthesis, on the contrary, is almost the same thing 
as deduction, demonstration, didactic exposition. 

But this sense, which is the true one, is not universally 
admitted. Swiss educators, for example, go contrary to the 
general usage. 

1 Dictionnaire de la langue fran^aise, au mot Analyse- 



282 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" The form which is best adapted to an elementary book," says 
M. Daguet, " is the synthetic or jirogressive form, — that is, that 
which proceeds from the particular to the general. The analytic 
form, which proceeds from the general to the particular and be- 
gins with the definition, may be followed in works which are used 
in the higher course." ^ 

So also M. Horner asserts that "the synonym of dem- 
onstration is deduction and analysis ; that the inventive 
process is often confounded with induction, synthesis, and 
heuristic."-^ This is exactly opposed to the opinion of 
M. Charbonneau, according to which "the demonstrative 
method is also named synthetic, while the inventive is called 
analytic." ^ 

We believe that the most general usage conforms to this 
last opinion. But from all these hesitations and contradic- 
tions it seems to us to follow that it is best to leave analysis 
and synthesis to the language of scientists, and to eliminate 
them from the vocabulary of pedagogy, where they serve 
only to obscure a subject which of itself Is quite simple. 
In all cases it is easy to recollect from what we have said, 
that the analytic method is but another term to designate 
the inductive method, and the synthetic method but a syn- 
onym for the method of deduction and demonstration.^ 

291. Is THERE AN INTUITIVE METHOD? — There could be 
no doubt of it, if we listen to the enthusiastic cries which 
from all directions salute the advent of this royal method, 
destined it seems to replace all others and to rogenerate 
instruction. And yet, if we consider things attentively, we 
shall be convinced that the so-called intuitive method is 

1 Daguet, op. cit, p. 148. 

2 Horner, op. cit., p. 12. 

3 Charbonneau, Cours de pe'dagogie, p. 261. 
* See Appendix B. 



METHODS IN GENEKAL. 283 

either but a special process which cau and should be con- 
uected with ths essential methods which we have distin- 
guished, or, if we understand it in its most extended sense, 
that it is confounded with the general spirit which ought to 
animate and vivify all the parts of instruction. 

292. Different Senses of the Word Intuition. — 
Usage and fashion sometimes subject words to strange 
adventures. 

Here is the word intuition, which in the seventeenth 
century signified, in theological language, the immediate 
and mystical vision of God, and whicli, in philosophical 
language, signified the evidence of immaterial truths and 
of the knowledge of the principles of the reason ; and 
to-day, by some sort of confusion, this same word, de- 
scended from the heights of metaphysics, is employed by 
educators as the synonym of sensible and material percep- 
tion. 

In Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany, the intuitive 
method is almost alwa3's confounded with instruction through 
the senses, and especially with instruction through the sense 
of sight. 

" The intuitive method consists in submitting things to the 
direct examination of the organs of sense, and especially of sight. 

" Intuitive instruction is that ^Yhich is addressed to the mind and 
heart through the medium of the senses, and particularly of the 
sight." 1 

293. Sensible Intuition and Intellectual Intuition. — 
But in France the meaning of the word ' ' intuition " has 
been generalized, and the intuitive method, from what our 
authorities in pedagogy say, comprehends something very 

1 Tmilt' the'nrique et pratique de me'thodologie, par Achille V. A. 
Namur, 1880, p. 153. 



284 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

different from lessons addressed to the senseg and teaching 
through the eye. There is intellectual intuition, and even 
moral intuition. 

Intellectual intuition, according to M. Buisson, is the 
clear and definite consciousness of all the operations of our 
mind. 

" I am conscious of my existence, of my desires, of my feelings, of 
my volitions ; I see them and feel them within myself, so to speak, 
more clearly and more distinctly than the eye sees colors or the 
ear hears sounds." ^ 

The same thing would be true of the reason also, and 
thus intuition returns to its primitive signification, — the 
immediate adhesion of the mind to the great speculative 
truths. 

As to moral intuition, M. Buisson defines it as follows : 

" It is taking possession at once, by the mind, the heart, and the 
conscience, of those axioms of the moral order and of Lliose in- 
demonstrable and induliitable truths which are the regulating 
principle of our conduct. There is an intuition of the good and 
the beautiful, as there is an intuition of the true ; only it is still 
more delicate, more irreducible to demonstrative processes, resists 
analysis to a greater degree, is more fugitive and more inexpli- 
cable, because it is complicated with elements foreign to the 
intelligence proper, and because it is commingled with the emo- 
tions, the feelings, the influences of the imagination, and the 
movements of the heart." 

294. Intuition in its Most Restricted Sense. — From 
these explanations it follows, first, that intuition, and con- 
sequently the intuitive method, designate things that are 
really very different. 

In its most restricted sense, and taken as the synonym of 

1 See Dictionnaire de pedagogic, article Intuition. 



METHODS IN GENEKAL. 285 

sense-perception, intuition has given rise to object lessons, 
or the substitution of concrete realities for abstractions and 
words, as the first exercise of the intelligence.^ We will- 
ingly accept the principle laid down by Pestalozzi, that 
" intuition is the source of all our knowledge ; " on condition, 
however, that by the word source we understand onl}' the 
initial origin of our ideas which, borrowed first from percep- 
tion and observation, have then need of being elaborated by 
our faculties of reflection. But it is very evident that 
in this sense, intuition, if it is the point of departure of 
a method, of the inductive method, does not constitute a 
method by itself. 

Let us multiply intuitions for the child to our heart's con- 
tent, — that is, clear and vivid perceptions; let us even 
admit that intuition has something peculiar and character- 
istic, and that it cannot be confounded with simple percep- 
tion ; let us grant that it does not suffice to present an 
object to the sight of the child in order that there may be a 
real intuition, but that in order to produce this particular 
state of mind special conditions are required, because the 
eye does not always see when it looks, because the senses 
grow tired, and that to excite a vivid and exact impression 
in the mind there is a moment to be seized which is not 
lasting. But for all this, it remains no less true that intui- 
tion, from this point of view, is at most but a more pene- 
trating observation, a more intense perception of sensilile 
realities ; and that, consequently, it may properly be an 
important element of the method whose object is to give us 
an exact knowledge of things, but not this entire method, 
which cannot dispense with reflection, comparison, and 
reason. 

So also with respect to intellectual intuition, to that 

1 See chapter third, Part Second. 



286 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

which seizes axioms at a glance, the intuitive method is 
still but the point of departure, the rational foundation of 
the deductive method, which ought doubtless to be based on 
well-understood principles, on evident propositions, but 
whicli constructs on these principles, by means of reasoning, 
a whole superstructure of science. 

295. Intuition in its Widest Sense. — But, understood 
in its wide sense, is intuition even then the principle of a 
distinct method of instruction? — In what does it consist, 
outside of its application to object lessons ? M. Buissou 
replies : 

" It consists in a certain march of the instruction which reserves 
to the child the pleasure and the profit, if not of discovery and 
surprise, which would perhaps be promising too much, at least of 
initiative and intellectual activity." ^ 

The intuitive method, then, would be that which, accord- 
ing to the saying of Fcnelon, 'Mnoves the springs of the 
child's soul." The purpose would be to make him judge by 
intuition, after having taught him to perceive by intuition. 
" To make the child think," says M. Buisson again, " would 
be the essence of the intuitive method." But is not this to 
force the sense of the word, still to call "intuition" the 
personal thought, the clear and exact intelligence, which 
results from the efforts of attention, the active participation 
of the pupil in the instruction he receives? Moreover, if 
tliis is the true meaning, the real pedagogical application of 
intuition, is it not evident that there is here no metliod, 
properly speaking, a method always supposing a series of 
processes and of means, while intuition thus understood is 
but the general character which pertains to all instruction? 

1 Dictionnaire de p^dagogie, ai'ticle already cited. 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 287 

Intuition ought to accompany all parts of a course of 
study, just as cousciousness envelops all the phenomena of 
the external world. It is, so to speak, the soul of every 
method and inspires all teaching which would not merely 
drily transmit the commonplaces of the soul, as the light 
illumines all births, but provokes the light and warmth of 
the spirit, and through instruction assures education ; but 
when all has been said, it is not a method. To say with M. 
Buisson that it consists not in the application of such or 
such a process, but in the intention and general Ijabit of 
making and permitting the child's mind to act in conformity 
with his intellectual instincts, is precisely to acknowledge 
that it is to pedagogy what the search for truth is to science, 
and the pursuit of the beautiful to poetry, — an ideal, a 
supreme end, but in no wise a body of practical means, or- 
ganized into a method. 

296. Experimental Method. — We know what services 
have been rendered science by the substitution of the ex- 
perimental method for the method of pure reasoning and 
abstract hypothesis. The natural sciences did not really 
exist till the day when the experimental logic of Bacon 
broke with the old traditions of the syllogism, and perpet- 
uated a revolution which the scholars of the sixteenth 
century had already provided for ; till the day when thinkers 
had decided to observe, to experiment, and from oliserved 
facts to make a patient induction of the laws which gov- 
erned them. 

Henceforth sovereign in the domain of the concrete 
sciences, when the discovery of truth is at stake, cannot 
the experimental method be transported into pedagogy and 
applied to the teaching of the truths which it has served to 
discover? In other terms, in order to form and to instruct 
the intelligence of the child, ought not the art of education 



288 PBACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to employ the processes of observation and experiment 
analogous to those which science has utilized for organizing 
itself? 

The reply cannot be doubtful, and it is easy to show that 
the methods brought into prominence by the educators of 
the last century are but different forms of the experimental 
method. 

What, for example, is the so-called intuitive method, but 
a constant appeal to experiment and observation? So the 
method which, under different names, is called in succession 
the intuitive, the heuristic, the analytic, or the inductive 
method, and which always consists in making the pupil dis- 
cover the truth which we would teach him, is but a detached 
fragment of the great experimental method. 

In a word, the experimental method is after all but 
another and more pretentious name for designating the 
whole or a part of the inductive method. 

297. General Spirit of a Good Method. — All the 
considerations which precede have no other practical utility 
than that of obliging the teacher to reflect upon the princi- 
ples of instruction themselves, and upon the necessity of 
taking into account both the nature of the children to whom 
he addresses himself, and the nature of the knowledge which 
he communicates. 

Let no one imagine that it is sufficient, in order to teach 
well, to know the abstract distinctions of pedagogy. The 
first condition for being a good teacher is always to possess 
a thorough knowledge of the subject which he has to teach. 
An p]nglish educator, M. Laurie, justly observes, "A 
teacher liimself possessed of a disciplined intelligence and 
of a will fortified by religion, reason, and experience, may 
be working wisely towards the production in others of that 
which is in himself, and be unconsciousli/ adapting his proc- 



METHODS IN GENERAL. 289 

esses to a sound method."^ But however well endowed 
he may be in respect of instruction or intelligence, he will 
always be inferior to a teacher who to the same personal 
qualities adds that which gives power, assurance, and deci- 
sion, — the reflective knowledge of the natural laws for the 
development of the intelligence, the characteristics of each 
school study, and consequently the methods which most 
easily find the route to the mind and are best adapted to 
each topic of instruction. 

1 S. S. Laurie, Primary Instruction in Relation to Education, 1883, 
pp. 15, 16. 



CHAPTER 11. 

READING AND WRITING. 

298. Subordination of the Different Studies. — 
Wjiile causing the different branches of the programme 
to be pursued one after another, and each by itself, the 
teacher will not lose sight of this general principle, that 
if each part ought to be studied in itself, it ought to be 
studied also in view of the whole; that is. it should 
contribute to the general education of the mind, awaken 
the intelligence, and furnish it with good habits of order, 
application, and consecutive thinking. This remark is 
applicable to reading and writing, which constitute the 
elementary basis of all instruction. 

299. Reading and Writing. — For a long time read- 
ing and writing, along with number, constituted the 
entire programme of the primary schools. To-day these 
elementarj' branches are no more than the conditions of 
more complete studies, which respond more fully to the 
social necessities and needs of human nature. According 
to a very just expression, these are instrumental knowledges ; 
that is to say, necessary instruments for acquiring other 
knowledge. But reading and writing, while they are but 
the preliminary means of instruction, have for this very 
reason a special importance. 

<')00. Their Place in the Courses of Study. — " Read- 
ing and writing are necessarily the foundation of the 

290 



READING AND WRITING. 291 

instruction given in the elementary courses," says M. 
Greard. "First of all, it is necessary to make this 
primary basis secure." But reading and writing remain 
till the end of the primary course one of the principal 
objects of the teacher's efforts. 

Even at the beginning and in the elementary course, 
reading and writing ought not of themselves to occupy 
the attention of the child to the exclusion of every 
other study. Different exercises in language, simple 
and familiar object-lessons, the elements of drawing, and 
notions of arithmetic and geography, may and should 
accompany them. 

" If it is possible," says M. Greard, " to begin the study of 
numbers almost at the same time, it is because spelling and nu- 
meration, and the tracing of letters and figures, are exercises of 
the same grade and almost of tlie same nature." 

Dreary schools are those where the pupil has no choice 
except between his primer and his copy-book ! Were it 
only for introducing variety into this monotonous work, 
the teacher ought to furnish the child with other occu- 
pations. 

Especially should we recollect that he is not merely to 
make of his pupils reading and writing machines, but that 
his ever-present thought should be to open and stimulate 
the mind by positive knowledge and by moral lessons. 

301. Different Grades of Reading. — Reading, which 
has been defined as " the translation of written language 
into spoken language," seems a very simple thing to 
those who know how to read ; but for the child who is 
learning to read, nothing is more complicated or more 
difficult.^ "The extent and complicacy of this accom- 



1 I\Ir. Bain defines it as " tlie art of pronouncing words at sight of 
their visible characters." 



292 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

plishinent," says Mr. Bain, " make it the work of years, 
even when not commenced very early." When the child 
knows hi.s letters, over-confident parents often shout 
victory and think that the whole is done. The real 
difficulty, however, the reading of words, begins only at 
that point. Months are often required for the pupil to 
pass from saying his letters to fluent reading. 

We ought then to distinguish different grades of read- 
ing : The first grade, where the pupil learns to distinguish 
letters and to know their names, and where he laboriously 
groups them in order to pronounce syllables and words ; 
the second grade, where the pupil reads fluently, without 
hesitation, without feeling his way ; the third grade, cor- 
responding to what is called expressive reading. 

302. Caution as to the Importance of Particular 
Methods. — In the teaching of elementary reading, as 
in all parts of instruction, we must be on our guard 
against the superstition of method. In truth, the spirit 
which animates the teacher, and the intellectual and 
moral qualities which distinguish him, will always be 
worth more than the best processes. Lakanal, speaking 
of a commission which the Council of the Five Hundred 
had called for the composition of elementary books, ex- 
pressed the opinion that there was not in France a single 
good book on the art of teachiug to read and write. " Up 
to this time," he said, "it is the patience of teachers and 
pupils that has done all." But notwithstanding the 
progress that has been accomplished, and though we are 
to-day provided with a great number of good methods, it 
is still upon the patience and skill of the teacher that we 
must mainly count. The teacher ought to know how to 
give animation to the reading lesson, to interest the pupil 
in it, and if possible to make attractive an exercise which 



READING AND WRITING. 293 

in itself is dreary and monotonous. He will already 
have done much, if he has been able to inspire his pupils 
with the desire of learning to read. 

This is what Rousseau said, though with his usual 
exaggeration : 

" A great ado has been made," he says, " over finding the best 
methods of teaching to read. Cabinets and charts have been 
invented, and the child's room turned into a printing-office. Locke 
would have him learn to read with dice. Was not this a happy 
invention ? What a pity ! A surer means than all this, but one 
which is always forgotten, is the desire to learn. Give the child 
this desire, and then put aside your cabinets and your dice ; every 
method will then succeed well with him." 

To the same effect it has often been remarked that 
methods of reading, even the best contrived, produce 
results only through the manner in which they are 
applied. 

" In this part of instruction, as in all the others, the value of 
the process is determined by the teacher who applies it. A given 
instructor has obtained in his school, through the use of means 
which he has devised, the most satisfactory results. 

" Under his dkection generations of pupils have been instructed 
with less effort, no doubt, than would have been requii-ed elsewhere ; 
and he yields to the temptation, certainly very natural, to embody 
in a little book the method which he had invented for himself, 
and by this means he hopes to render to the pupils whose masters 
shall adopt it the same service which he has rendered his own. 
Unhappily the result does not always meet his expectations." ^ 

303. Description of the Principal Wats of Teach- 
ing TO Read. — On first glancing at the innumerable proc- 
esses which the fertile ingenuity of educators has succes- 

1 Mile. Chalamet, op. cit, p. 155. 



294 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

sively brought into use for teaching to read, which fashion 
has patronized l)y turns, we miglit be tempted to think 
tliat it is impossible to reduce to unity this chaos of spell- 
ing-boolfs and charts of every description.^ After a little 
more reflection, liowever, we become convinced that this 
diversity, apparently infinite, is due rather to modifications 
of detail, and to accessory and superficial combinations, 
than to essential and profound differences. 

The first obvious distinction is that between S3'stems 
where the teaching of reading is Ivept separate from every- 
thing else and administered wholly by itself, and methods 
that have been very popular for a few years past, especially 
in Germany, which combine the teaching of writing with 
that of reading. 

Let us first consider the processes in which reading is not 
connected with writing. By leaving out of account the ac- 
cessory aids which introduce complications into them, these 
may be reduced to two, the method by spelling and the 
method by direct syllabication without spelling. 

304. The Method by Spelling (Alphabetic Method). 
— The method most generally employed in France, notwith- 
standing the criticisms that have been made of it, is the 
old way of teaching to read, which consists first in having 
the letters named instead of having them pronomiced^ and 
then in having them grouped in order to form syllables of 
them. 

" When we reflect on all the difficulties which this method pre- 
sents, on the effort of abstraction it requires of cliildreii, on the 
labor whicli tlie deconipositiou and the reconiposition of syllables 

1 On the history of the different systems of reading, see the excel- 
lent article Lecture, by M. Guillaume, in the Diciionnaire de p^dagogie ; 
also, Hall's How to teach Heading, Boston, 1887. 



EEADING AND WRITING. 295 

supposes, on the impossibility for the pupil to grasp the correspond- 
ence between the letters told one after another and the composite 
sound which results from them ; we are astonished that with 
processes so defective children ever learn to read. ' Whoever 
knows how to read,' says Duclos, ' knows the most difficult art, if 
he has learned it by the common method.' " ^ 

305. The Old and the New Spelling. — Each letter 
has received a name, but this name does not correspond to 
the relative value which it has as a sound in the composi- 
tion of words. Hence the defect, pointed out two centuries 
ago by the grammarians of Port Royal, in the old method of 
spelling. 

" By pronouncing the consonants separately and making children 
name them," says Guyot, " there is always joined to them a vowel, 
namely e, which is neither a part of the syllable nor of the word, 
and it thus happens that the sound of the letters as they are pro- 
nounced is entirely different from that of the letters combined. 
For example, the child is made to spell the word hon, that is com- 
posed of three le<W;ers, h, o, n, which he pronounces one after the 
other. Now h, pronounced alone, is he ; o pronoimced alone is still o, 
for it is a vowel ; but n pronounced alone is ene. How, then, is 
the child to understand that all these sounds, which he has been 
made to pronounce separately by naming these three letters one 
after the other, make but the single word bon .? He has been made 
to pronounce three sounds, which have been distinctly impressed 
on his ear, and he is then told to unite these three sounds and 
make one of them, namely, bon. And Guyot proposed, in order 
to remedy this difficulty, that the consonants should be called 
only by their natural sounds, by merely adding the silent e, which 
is necessary for pronouncing them." ^ 

The new system of spelling, then, gives to the letters a 

1 M. Buisson, Rapport sur l' instruction primaire a I'exposition uni- 
verselle de Vienne, 1875. 

2 Grammaire generate de Port Royal, Chap. VI. 



296 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

sound which more nearly approaches their relative value. 
Besides, it decomposes the syllable into but two parts, the 
sonnd and the articulation, without taking account of the 
number of letters which enter into the composition of either. 
The advantage of the method by spelling [alphabetic 
method] is that it is a good preparation for the study of 
orthography. But, on the other hand, as a method of reading 
properly so called, it is evidently longer and more difficult. 
But nothing prevents us from returning to spelling a little 
later, when it becomes indispensable for the study of or- 
thography, and the first difficulties have been overcome. 
Mr. Bain has justly remarked : 

" Much stress is now laid by teachers on the point of beginning 
to pronounce short words at sight, without spelling them, and a 
strong condemnation is uttered against the old spelling method. 
The difference between the methods is not very apparent to me ; 
after a few preliminary steps, the two must come to the same 
thing." 1 

306, Phonetic Methods. — But there has become popu- 
lar, particularly in Germany, in opposition to the alphabetic 
method, a system Avhich consists in making the pupil grasp 
and reproduce the sound of each letter, without naming the 
written sign which represents it. From this principle has 
sprung a great number of different methods, all of which are 
connected with the idea of statilegie, or immediate reading 
without previous spelling.'- These are also called methods 
by syllabication, because tliey present to the pupil, not iso- 
lated letters, but syllables. 

Thus, by the old system of spelling, the word infant has 
six elements, i-n-f-a-n-t ; by the new system of spelling it 

1 Education as a Science, p. 240. 

2 For stalilegie, see the Didionnalre de pe'dagoyie, article Laforte. 



READING AND WRITING. 297 

has three elements, in-f-ant ; while by the method without 
spelling, the word has but two elements, in-fant.^ 

307. Synthetic and Analytic Methods. — Educators 
who freely use and abuse the words analysis and synthesis, 
have shown no anxiety to omit these favorite expressions in 
the names which they have applied to the different systems 
of reading ; and, to tell the truth, the nature of the subject 
would here justify, more than anywhere else, the use of 
these terms. 

A word, in fact, is a compound, like the bodies which 
chemistry anal3'^zes. It is formed of elements, which are 
letters ; so that by analogy with methods in chemistry it is 
allowable to call anal^^ical the method which consists in 
presenting at first the whole, the entire word, in order to 
decompose it into its elements ; and to call synthetic the re- 
verse process, which first requires the letters to be learned, 
in order to form syllables of them, and afterwards to con- 
struct words. 

It is in this sense that most teachers define the anal^'tic 
and synthetic methods of reading. 

" The analytic method," says M. Horner, " starts from the 
whole in order to reach the parts ; it drills pupils in first reading 
the word rose as a whole, then by syllables, rose, whence i* de- 
scends to the ultimate elements of this word ; that is, to the letters. 

" The synthetic method consists in starting fi'om the ultimate 
elements of words, ill order to reach the syllables; from syllables 
the pupil passes to words, and from words to sentences." ^ 

From this distinction it follows that the so-called synthetic 
method corresponds to the old methods. ''The analytic 

1 Jacotot, instead of starting with the letter and the sj^llable, starts 
with the word as a whole. See J. Jacotot et sa Me'thode, par Perez, p. 94. 

2 Mr. Horner, op. cit., p. Ill, e^ seq. 



298 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

method, on the contraiy," says M. Horner, " almost un- 
known in French schools, is universally practised, or at 
least recommended, in German}^ and in French Switzer- 
land." ^ 

But the words analysis and synthesis are so very ob- 
scure, and so difiicult to handle, that a French educational 
authority, M. Brouard, asserts, to the contrary effect, that 
in the analytical methods we decompose the syllable into all 
its elements; and he thus confounds them with the "old 
methods." " According to the same author, tlie synthetic 
method, whose essential characteristic, if we may trust the 
declarations of Swiss and Belgian educators, is to start 
from the simplest element, the letter, in order to rise to the 
different groups which constitute syllables and words, — the 
synthetic method "should not decompose, or should decom- 
pose as little as possible." 

Perhaps this example of confusion and absolute contradic- 
tion in the use of the same terms will finally convince our 
readers that it would be best to renounce forever, in the 
language of pedagogy, those fine terms analysis and syn- 
thesis. If, however, any one feels bound to preserve them, 
in order to distinguish the different procedures followed in 
the study of reading, we do not hesitate to say that the only 
logical signification which can be given to them is the one 
from Swiss pedagogy which we have noted. 

308. Simultaneous Teaching of Reading and Writing. 
— It must not be supposed that the system which associates 
and combines the teaching of reading with that of writing, 

1 This is also a prevailing method in American schools of the better 
class. See Appendix C. (P.) 

2 Mr. Brouard, Inspection des e'coles prirnaires, p. 232. M. Guillaume 
in the Dictionnaire de pedagogie says to the contrary and with reason, 
" The most ancient method proceeded by synthesis." 



BEADING AND WRITING. 299 

and attempts to facilitate aud animate each by the other, is 
anything entirely new. In his Alphabet i^our les enfants 
(1750), Delaunay recommends parents "to put the pen in 
the child's hand the moment he begins to read." Montaigne 
relates that he was taught to read and write at the same 
time ; and Jacotot also associated the teaching of reading 
with writing. 

But it is chiefly within the last few years that this method 
has gained credit and reputation, at least in theory. 

"For fort}^ years past," says a German educator, " there 
has been produced but one review article iu favor of the 
old systems by spelling ; but notwithstanding this, the alpha- 
betic method is still taught in perhaps half the schools of 
Germany, at least of the rural schools." ^ 

M. Buisson describes this process as follows : 

" In the new system of instruction, a pretty little illustrated book 
is given the child. This is his first book, and yet it does not begin 
with the alphabet, but with pictures, as of a tvheel, a nest, or a hat. 
Above the object neatly drawn is the name, written in large letters ; 
it is always a short and easy word, such as Vogel calls a normal'^ 
word. The teacher speaks to his jiupils of the object which they see 
before them, both drawn and written ; and he then shows them 
the characters used to write the name of that object. He next 
wi'ites the entire word on the board, in order to decompose it be- 
fore their eyes, and make them pronounce each vowel by itself, so 
as to show them how the consonants modify it ; then by a sort of 
guess-work he sets them to hunting up a few common words in 
which are found the same sounds and consequently the same 
letters ; and finally he sets them to looking in their books, here 
and there, for characters like those which they have just learned. 
This is the use that is made of the ear aud the eye ; that of the 
hand is its immediate complement, and very often the beginning is 

1 Quoted by M. Buisson, Rapport, p. 15G. 

2 Buisson, Ibid., p. 154. 



300 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

made with this. The teacher traces upon the blackboard a few 
horizontal and vertical lines, and teaclies the children a small 
number of conventional terms wliich he will have need to use, such 
as above, beloir, to the right, to the left, short, long, etc. ; and then, 
when all have taken the pen in hand, he dictates to the whole 
class the movements to be made, that is, the lines to be traced. 
The pupils thus write in unison, and, as it were, under military 
orders. This curious exercise is much easier for them than for 
us ; first, because the characters of the German running-hand are 
almost exclusively rectilinear, and then because the child has gen- 
erally been prepared in the Kindergarten by the little patterns of 
Froebel, so that for him writing is but a new application of the 
same exercises. He thus learns to read and write simultaneously, 
while continuing the pattern woi'k of the Kindergarten."^ 

We admire the ingenious art which presides over the 
organization of such a scheme of instruction, in which the 
work of the hands is associated with the exercise of hearing 
and seeing ; in which the effort of the representative imagi- 
nation, which reading involves, is aided by the physical ac- 
tivity which is required by tlie practice of writing ; in which 
writing itself is facilitated by the preparatory exercises in 
drawing, and in which, finally, there are skillfully connected 
with the study of language signs little object-lessons, 
which give the pupil some variety and some attraction. 
One might be very glad to prefer this living and animated 
method to the ordinary processes which impose on the child 
" an endless repetition of sounds and unions of sounds which 
signify nothing to the mind, and a pitiless repetition of 
those monotonous spelling exercises which are followed by 
the no less tedious exercises in writing on slate or paper." 
Perhaps the day will come when this ideal method will be 
generally practiced in our schools ; but we see what efforts 
it requires on the part of the teacher. As a matter of fact, 

1 M. Buisson, Rapport, p. 154. 



READING AND WRITING. 301 

the general characteristic of the reforms which have been 
suggested to the art of teaching by the modern spirit of 
innovation and progress is to put upon the teacher all the 
labor from which the pupil has been relieved. It is not then 
to be expected for a long time yet, that the method which 
we have just described can be made general in our public 
schools. Let it be added that whatever effort we make, 
whatever ingenious invention we employ, to relieve the child, 
we shall never succeed in suppressing in the teaching of 
reading all of the artificial and the mechanical that is in- 
volved in it. There can never be a method of reading per- 
fectly natural and rational, for the excellent reason that 
letters are conventional signs, and that there is no natural 
correspondence between these signs and the ideas which 
they express. 

309. Different Applications of this Method. — But 
theory always anticipates practice, at least customary prac- 
tice, and foreign teachers already distinguish two different 
ways of applying the simultaneous teaching of reading and 
writing, according as the analytic mode or the synthetic 
mode of procedure is followed. We shall not here speak of 
what are called the synthetic method and the analytico-synthetic 
method of script reading.^ Let us simply preserve from all 
these tentatives the general idea which dominates them ; 
namely, that writing being relatively easier and more attrac- 
tive than reading, it is well to carry on these two exercises 
simultaneously. Let no one object that script letters are 
different from printed letters. All who have taught by this 
method are unanimous in declaring that the transition from 
script to print presents no difficulty for the child ; but let us 

1 On this subject see interesting details in the Rapport of M. 
Buissou, already noted! 



302 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

not expect that the child will learn to read by putting into 
his hands the pencil or the pen. 

" The fixing of the visible impressions of the alphabet is has- 
tened if the pupil is sufficiently advanced in the power of the hand 
to draw tlie letters with chalk or with slate pencil." ^ 

310. Accessory Processes. — What adds to the apparent 
multiplicity of methods for reading is the accessory pro- 
cesses which have been added to them, to fix and sustain 
the child's attention. Such are the Gervais system, where 
sliding cards serve to group the letters into syllables ; the 
Cheron apparatus, which replaces the tapes and cards by 
standards ; the Neel charts, which simplify the use of 
standards ; the Lambert method, where of two concentric 
wheels one presents the articulations and the other the sound ; 
the Maitre, where two tapes unroll to serve the same pur- 
pose ; the Mignon method, which employs a mural chart 
with movable characters ; the Thollois method, which is a 
reproduction of the typographic cabinet of Dumas ; - the 
picture methods of Regimbeau, of Larousse, and others. 
Such again is the Phononmnic process. 

311. Phonomimic Process. — The principle of this proc- 
ess is not new. Comenius had already placed at the 
beginning of his Orhis Pictns a picture-alphabet, in which 
to each letter there corresponded the cry of an animal, or 
rather a sound familiar to the child. This is the same idea 
which inspires the phonomimic process of M. Grosselin, 
applied by Madame Pape-Carpantier in her spelling-book 
for the use of kindergartens. Letters of the alphabet are 
there associated with phonou.'mic gestures. 

1 Bain, op. cit., p. 3,38. 

2 See Compayre's Ilistury of Pedagogy, p. 239. 



READING AND WRITING. 303 

312. General Advice. — Whatever maybe the method 
employed, the teacher should be anxious above all else to 
introduce intelligence and life into tlie reading lesson. Let 
him not call into play merely the mechanical memory of the 
child, but let him interest his other faculties, as his judg- 
ment and his imagination. The lesson should be short, ^ 
interrupted if need be by questions to animate it and by 
diversions to make it pleasant. Let us not forget that read- 
ing is the child's first introduction to study, to school work. 
Let us take care that this first effort be not too difficult for 
him, and that he be not forever disgusted with study by his 
disagreeable apprenticeship to reading. 

313. Fluent and Expressive Reading. — Fluent read- 
ing is one of the most important exercises of the primary 
school. By this means, in fact, the child not only becomes 
accustomed to overcome the difficulties of reading proper, 
but he is learning his native language, acquiring useful 
knowledge, and taking account of the meaning of words. 

The choice of a good book for fluent reading is of capital 
importance, — it is the "walking-beam of the school." In 
making use of the books, let the teacher explain in advance 
the subject which is about to be read, and carefully illustrate 
all the terms employed. 

" The reading lesson, with explanations," says an Inspector- 
General, " is one of the most encouraging signs of the progress 
that is being made in our primary instruction. Doubtless this 
explanation is often dry, confused, purely grammatical, lexicologi- 
cal; but it is a germ which will develop itself. . . . This will 
be the most living and vivifying part of the programme, when all 
teachers have comprehended the necessity of making a daily and 
painstaking preparation for it." - 

^ M. Rendu admits that the reading lesson may be without incon- 
venience from twenty to thirty minutes. 
2 Bulsson, Rapport, page 71. 



304 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

314. Expressive Reading. — "Expressive reading," 
says M. Rousselot, " is natural reading, whose tone is 
adapted to the ideas and sentiments expressed in the selec- 
tion read." Without wishing to transform our schools into 
conservatories of declamation, there is ground for complaint 
that teachers generally give so little attention to the art of 
reading. American teachers give this suliject much more 
attention when they require "that tlie child read with feel- 
ing, intelligence, and grace ; that he understand what the 
author intended to express ; that he enter into the spirit of 
the piece ; and that he have the command of his voice." 

" Every teacher should be a good reader. Not more than one in 
every hundred among teachers can now be called a good reader." ^ 

315. Critical Observations on the Teaching of Read- 
ing. — We borrow from the Rapports of the Inspectors-Gen- 
eral a certain number of critical observations gathered from 
actual practice, which mark with precision some of the most 
common faults in the teaching of reading : 

" The reading exercise is not made intelligent enough ; the 
explanations with which it ought to be accompanied are fre- 
quently lacking. The reading is heavy and monotonous. The 
delivery is inarticulate, dull, and confused. The teacher does not 
always feel himself obliged to take the lead in reading or to give 
a model for imitation. The reading lesson is but a mechanical 
exercise which leads to no useful results. The children read 
poorly, because they do not understand what they read. In but 
few schools is the reading expressive and well explained. Chil- 
dren seem to read as though they were running a race ; they read 
for the sake of reading, and read too rapidly, as though the only 
purpose were to limber the tongue and the throat of the pupil. 
Many teachers imagine that the child ought to write only when he 
knows how to read." 

1 Page, Theory and Practice of Teaching, 1885, p. 74. 



READING AND WRITING. 305 

316. Proofs of Progress. — By the side of the faults 
just pointed out let us place the commendations given to 
certain schools and the proofs of the progress that has 
been made in many places : 

" The new method of spelling is alone in use. The method in 
use is becoming more rational, and the process less mechanical. 
Writing and reading taught simultaneously lend each other 
mutual aid. The teaching of reading and writing takes place at 
the blackboard, to the great joy of the children. Mechanical 
reading has been succeeded by reading that is more intelligent, 
better understood, explained by the teacher, and often sunnna- 
rized by the pupil. Teachers begin to understand that good read- 
ing should be the basis of all other work ; some make a careful 
preparation for each lesson." 

317. The Teaching of "Writing. — All educators are 
now agreed that the child ought to be drilled in writing from 
the moment he enters school, and that he should not wait 
for this until he has learned to read fluently. More and 
more the truth of this pedagogical axiom will be recognized, 
that drawing, writing, and reading need one another and are 
mutually helpful. 

On the other hand, it is not useless to recollect that the 
writing lesson itself, however mechanical it may be, may 
become for the teacher an occasion for calling the attention 
of his pupils to the meaning of the words which he copies, 
and to the moral significance of the sentences which he 
writes. From this point of view, the choice of copies pre- 
sented to the child is of some importance.^ 

1 We are disposed to think that all instruction may have a disci- 
plinary aim, and it is for this reason that the choice of copies is not 
an indifferent matter. But it seems to us an exaggeration to admit, 
with certain teachers, that the study of writing can develop the aes- 
thetic sense, and consequently can exercise a salutary influence on 
the moral nature and train the judgment. 



306 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

318. Different Processes. — Properly speaking, there 
are no distinct methods for teaching writing ; there are only 
different processes. The principal are the use of tracing- 
copies, the imitation of models, and prepared copy-books. 
It is astonishing that certain teachers still recommend trac- 
ing-copies and the use of black lines. This is the case with 
M. Rendu, who is very willing to acknowledge, however, 
that the practice should be at once abandoned the moment 
the child has become somewhat accustomed to write. 

The imitation of models leaves the child to his own 
powers, and at first constitutes, perhaps, an exercise that is 
too difficult. As soon as possible, however, there must be 
a resort to this process, either by presenting the pupil with 
copies upon paper or by tracing letters and words upon the 
blackboard, — a practice which has this advantage, among 
others, of facilitating collective teaching. 

Prepared copy-books, where the child at first has but to 
niuke traces, but where the guiding lines become more and 
more rare in proportion as the pupil advances, are the 
method which is ])est adapted to the inexperience of begin- 
ners. This system is a combination of tracing and imita- 
tion, the one which is recommended by the Conduite des 
ecoles chretiennes. This may at once be admitted, on con- 
dition that we do not prolong too far this over-agreeable 
exercise. "The pupil," says M. Berger, "ought as soon 
as possible to be drilled in freely imitating the copies and 
in accustoming himself somewhat to walk without leading- 
strings." 

In the teaching of writing another difference comes from 
the use of slate and pencil, or of paper and pen. Pestalozzi, 
who made writing subordinate to draAving, strongly recom- 
mended the use of the slate, liecause the child handles the 
pencil more easily than the pen. and because upon the slate 
he more easily effaces his mistakes. On the other hand, 



READING AND WRITING. 307 

M. Brouard remarks that the slate, "the paper of the poor," 
is never more than an expedient, and that its use makes the 
hand awkward and stiffens the fingers. 

319. Conditions Necessaey for Learning to Write 
Well. — Power of representative imagination, a clear, 
exact, and complete conception of the forms to be traced, 
is one of the conditions necessary for learning to write. 
Another condition is that deftness of the hand which 
is in part natural, but which is also acquired by sufficient 
exercise, and precautions that may be taken to secure a cor- 
rect position of the body and a proper holding of the pen. 

According to the Manuel of M. Rendu, the elements of a 
correct position for writing are the following : 

" The bodij straight, perpendicular, upon the bench as one sits at 
table ; 

"The limbs advanced, not crossed nor bent backward; 

"The /(// arm oblique upon the table, supporting the body, the 
hand flat-wise, the fingers upon the copy-book to adjust it prop- 
erly; 

" The copy-book a little inclined to the left ; 

"The right arm free in its movements, about two-thirds upon 
the table, separated from the body by a hand-breadth ; 

" The pen between the first three fingers, extended without 
being rigid ; 

" The riyht hand bent neither upward nor downward, supported 
only by the extremities of the third and fourth fingers, bent 
inward in such a way that the pen points toward the shoulder ; 

" Finally, the head bent a little forward, but only enough for 
seeing clearly." 

320. General Advice. — The teaching of writing should 
not be considered as a mechanical exercise for which it 
suffices that the pupil should have a copy-book. The 
teaclier ought constantly to supervise this work, and the 
following are some of the rules to which he should conform : 



308 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

The penmanship of the teacher should not only be good, 
but he should also have the ability to write upon the black- 
board. 

Preparation should be made for the writing lesson as for 
other lessons. 

Abuse must not be made of caligraphic exercises and of 
mechanical copying. 

All the exercises in arithmetic, composition, and espe- 
cially in dictation, ought to be exercises in flowing and 
legible penmanship. 

The teacher ought not to take part in the writing exercises 
while seated at his desk ; after having given his lesson on 
the blackboard, he ought to pass from seat to seat to direct 
his pupils, to observe the position of body, hand, and pen, 
to correct faults and to re-form letters that are badly made. 

"In teaching writing, teachers should not attempt to train 
skilful professors of caligraphy, but to prepare children for writing 
rapidly and legibly." 

We cannot too carefully proscribe all vain caligraphic 
refinements, puerile masterpieces of penmanship, pen-draw- 
ings which are designed only for ornament. 

321. Practical Observations on the Teaching of 
Writing. — The following are some observations contained 
in the Rapports of the Inspectors-General, touching the 
teaching of writing : 

" The slate, that simple means of giving children occupation, is 
rarely utilized. The teacher, instead of placing the copy upon the 
blackboard for the whole class, prefers to give a ready-made copy. 
Peimianship is rarely made a specialty. The teacher does not 
take the trouble to examine and correct the books. There will 
never be visible progress in writing while the teacher does not 
take upon himself the task of passing from seat to seat duxing the 



READING AND WRITING. 309 

lesson, to go from pupil to pupil, to observe the position of the 
body and the holding of the pen, — in a word, to see how 
the children follow their copies, and to correct before their eyes 
letters which seem defective." 

322. Conclusion. — From what has preceded, it follows 
that in the teaching of reading and writing, those two 
fundamental branches of all elementary instruction, proc- 
esses that are intelligent and attractive are more and more 
replacing routine and mechanical processes. Writing and 
reading ought not to be abandoned to the hazards of a 
monotonous spelling or of an insipid exercise in copying ; 
they ought to be professionally taught, as essential elements 
in the study of the mother-tongue. 



CHAPTER III. 

OBJECT-LESSONS. 

323. Origin of Object-Lessons. — To-day everybody 
talks about object-lessons, and all teachers pretend to give 
them ; but thu'ty years ago the term was unknown, at least 
in France, and the repute of this mode of teaching is due 
to an entirely new phase of opinion. 

The object-lesson is the application of the principle which 
Rousseau and Pestalozzi have popularized ; nameh^, that in 
instruction things must come before words, and that the 
senses, particularly the sense of sight, are the faculties 
which are first developed, and that it is to them that we 
must make the first appeal. 

From another point of view, the introduction of object- 
lessons into the programme of school studies is the result 
of that modern tendency which more and more impels 
teachers to develop the educative character of instruction. 
In fact, the object-lesson is worth less for the knowledge 
which it communicates than for the manner in which it is 
communicated, for the effect it produces on the faculties of 
observation and attention, for the interest which it seeks to 
create by presenting to the pupil familiar notions accessible 
to his intelligence, and by keeping his mind on things which 
he already knows in part, and which we wish to have him 
know still better. 

Let us first attempt to define with exactness the meaning 
which it is proper to attach to the expression object-lessons ; 
310 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 311 

and we shall then inquire how that instruction ought to be 
administered, and on what conditions it can bear all its fruit. 

324. Misunderstandings as to the Meaning of the 
Term. — The object-lesson has had the same fate as the 
so-called intuitive method ; these expressions have been 
used at random to designate scholastic i)rocesses which 
have only a remote relation to them. Like all novelties, 
"object-lesson" has become a beautifully vague term, which 
each one interprets in his own way. 

" A long observation of school affairs," says Mile. Chalamet, 
" has convinced us that if one does not wish to be understood, he 
has no surer means than to speak of object-lessons. There are 
certainly but few questions in teaching of the practical sort, which 
give occasion for such strange misconceptions. Not very long ago, 
while speaking with one of the professors in a large scliool, we 
asked him if many object-lessons were given in his class. ' We 
make use of them constantly,' he replied; ' we give our pupils 
explanations on all subjects.' In fact, while industriously observ- 
ing the work of this professor for a considerable time, we became 
convinced that for him object-lessons consisted in pouring forth 
floods of verbal explanations." ^ 

It is in part to Madame Pape-Carpantier that must be 
attributed the responsibility for this misleading extension 
of the meaning of object-lessons. The models she has left 
us give proof of ingenious invention and exquisite tact ; l)ut 
they also prove that the oliject-lesson was for her a sort 
of encyclopaedic process, and that she applied it to every 
branch of instruction as a sort of common mould into which 
everything was to be forced.^ 

"The object-lesson," she said, "teaches of realities themselves, 
and from every reality it produces useful knowledge and noble 
sentiment." 

1 Mile. Chalamet, op. cit., p. 00. 

2 Madame Pape-Carpantier, Conferences faites a la Sorbonne en 1867. 



312 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

325. Definition of Object-Lesson. — One of the best 
defiuitious which have beeu given of object-lessons is the 
one that we borrow from Mr. Bain, who has written on this 
subject one of the most remarkable chapters of his Educa- 
tion as a Science. 

" The object-lesson is made to range over all the utilities of 
life and all the processes of nature. It begins upon things famil- 
iar to the pupils, and enlarges the conceptions of these by filling 
in unnoticed qualities. It proceeds to things that have to be 
learnt, even in their primary aspect, by description or diagram ; 
and ends with the more abstruse operations of natural forces." ^ 

In its last part, Mr. Bain's definition is itself a little too 
broad, since it tends to embrace the highest departments of 
the physical sciences. We are firm in the belief that the 
object-lesson ought to be merely a beginning instrument, 
and that it should not be continued to the last stage of in- 
struction. On this point we do not share the opinion of Mr. 
Spencer, who would have the object-lesson so conducted in 
the earlier stages of instruction that it could merge insen- 
sibly into the investigation of the naturalist and the man of 
science.^ 

■^ Here a few other definitions that may serve to enlighten 
us on the nature and purpose of object-lessons : 

" The professed purpose of object-le-ssons," says Mr. Spencer, 
" is to give the child the habit of thorough observation. . . . The 
object-lesson is a process of uistruction, one of the applications of 
the intuitive method." ^ 

" Object-lessons may be defined as lessons designed to teach the 
elements of knowledge by the use of objects." ^ 

1 Education as a Science, p. 247. 

2 Education, p. 136. 

8 M. Platrier, Lecons de chases in the Dictionnaire de p€dagogie. 
* Wickersham, Methods of Instruction, p. 141. 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 313 

Johonnot, an American teacher, sharply contrasts object- 
lessons with formal memory exercises. 

" The decided superiority of the new method over the old, in 
arousing attention and in exciting interest, is manifest. The new 
instruction appeals to experience and excites the observing powers 
to intense activity. It feeds the mind upon real knowledge, and 
raises it out of the slough of inattention and listless inactivity 
produced by the old process of mere routine." ^ 

In fact, the object-lesson is directly opposed to text-book, 
instruction. It results from the reaction, excessive it must 
be admitted, which modern education has directed against 
instruction purely Uvresque, as Montaigne called it. 

326. Abuse of Object-lessons. — It may be said in a 
sense that object-lessons have been too successful, that 
people have been carried away by them, and that they have 
come near being brought into disrepute by the abuse which 
has been made of them. Besides being cried up with exces- 
sive enthusiasm, thi y have been indiscriminately applied to 
all branches of instruction. There have been object-lessons 
in morals and in history ; and they have been confounded 
with the experiments and demonstrations of science. 

It is in this sense that Madame Pape-Carpantier said : 

" The man of science in his amphitheatre gives an object-lesson 
when he performs before the very eyes of his pupils the delicate 
and brilliant operations with which he entertains them." 

The object-lesson, as its name indicates, ought to be kept 
within the domain of knowledge where we have actually to 
deal with things which can be shown, with sensible objects 
which strike the eyes of the child. 

But at most it is and can be but an elementary initiation 

1 Johonnot, Principles and Practice of Teaching, p. 84. 



314 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

into knowledge of this sort ; it ought never to take the form 
of a didactic lesson. 

327. The New Formalism. — The object-lesson is noth- 
ing if not a living method of teaching, in which the teacher 
gives proof of sagacity and invention ; in which he arranges, 
alwaj's with freedom, and if possible with originality, the 
common iuforination wliich he wishes to communicate to 
his pupils ; in which he intersperses his exposition with 
interrogations, and in which he makes a constant api)eal to 
the child's initiative by taking advantage of circumstances, 
such as the replies wliich are made to his questions. 

But the formal and scholastic spirit always asserts itself, 
and object-lessons, imperfectly understood, very soon be- 
come a new piece of school mechanism. 

It is thus that many school-books, through a curious mis- 
conception, are entitled "Object-lessons." It has become 
the custom, in some primary schools, to dictate object- 
lessons ; and the degeneration has gone even further than 
this.i 

" To read an object-lesson is bad enough, but there is something 
worse, and we have seen one played. It was at a health-resort, 
and the watering-place had a school. One Smiday the directors 
invited the guests to witness the distrilnition of prizes. There 
was a programme for the occasion, and this programme promised, 
among other things, the representation of an object-lesson ! In 
fact, two little girls appeared on the platform, one of whom was 
the mistress and the other her pupil ; and they proceeded to recite 
with volubility an object-lesson in the form of a dialogue." ^ 

1 " No object-lesson," said Johonnot, " should be given from a book. 
Tlie very name of the exercise would seem to be sui3acient to render 
this rule unnecessary; but tlicre have been teachers so profoundly 
stupid as to oblige pupils to connnit to memory the model lessons 
given in manuals of teaching." (Op. cit., pp. 91, 92.) 

- Mile. Chalamet, op. cit. 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 315 

328. Different Forms of Object-lessons. — After hav- 
ing attempted to define the essential characteristics of every 
object-lessou, we must liasten to note the fact that there are 
different ways of applying this educational process. 

Mr. Bain distinguishes three princi])al forms of the 
object-lessou. 

1. The object-lesson may consist in placing a concrete 
object before the eyes of the pupil as a type, in order to 
have him grasp an abstract idea. For example, four apples, 
or four nuts, are presented to the pupil iu order to develop 
in him the concept of the number four. 

2. The ol)ject-lesson may consist in calling into play the 
five senses, as by making;- the pupil see, touch, and observe 
the qualities of certain objects. In this form, the object- 
lesson is but the education of the senses. 

3. Finally, the object-lesson may be employed to increase 
the number of conceptions, to make the pupil acquire a 
knowledge of objects, facts, and realities, formed by natiu'e 
or by human art. It is this feature which is commonly 
expressed by saying that the object-lesson cultivates or 
develops the faculty of conception and imagination. 

" Basing upon what the child ah'eady knows and conceives, 
unknown objects may be pictured forth, and so laid hold of, as 
permanent imagery for after uses. It is thus that children may 
be made to conceive in a dim form the camel of the desert, the 
palm-tree, the Pyramids of Egypt." ^ 

329. The Proper Domain of OBjEcr-LESSONS. — If we are 
to believe American teachers, object-lessons have an unlimited 
field of application, — as unlimited as nature itself. They 
may be extended even to histor3%" and applied to ideal 



1 Bain, op. cit, p. 256. 

2 Wickersham, op. cit., p. 144. 



316 PE ACTIO AL PEDAGOGY. 

things as well as to material objects. "In its enlarged 
sense," says Wielfersliam, '• the term object means anytliing 
to which thought is or may ho directed." There might, 
then, be object-lessons even in psychology. 

Mr. Bain more wisely limits the domain of object-lessons 
to sensible objects alone. 

" The object-lesson introduces the pupil to three great fields, — 
Natural History, Physical Science, and the useful arts, or common 
utilities of every-day life." ^ 

We agree with the English educator, that the domain of 
object-lessons is necessarily restricted to the sciences, or 
rather to the familiar and ordinai-y subjects of knowledge, 
which relate directly to things that can be seen and touched. 
History, grammar, the abstract sciences, such as arithmetic 
and the moral sciences, must be strictly excluded. 

330. Their True Character. — That which finally dis- 
tinguishes the object-lesson is not merely the nature of the 
objects to which it is applied, but the manner in which it is 
given. It ought not to have the didactic character of con- 
secutive exposition, but it ought to be given always in the 
conversational form. 

Mr. Spencer justly complains that in the manuals of 
object-lessons there is given a long list of the things which 
are to be told to the child. According to him, the child 
must be merel}' provoked to discover these things by his own 
observation. In the object-lesson it is chiefly the child that 
ought to speak. 

" We must listen to all the child has to tell us aboixt each ob- 
ject, must induce it to say everything it can think of about such 
object, nmst occasionally draw its attention to facts it has not yet 

' Bain, op. cit., p. 249. 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 317 

observed, with the view of leading it to notice them itself when- 
ever they recur, and must go on by and by to indicate or supply 
new series of things for a like exhaustive examination." i 

The object-lesson ought to be a transition from maternal 
instruction to school instruction proper, an initiation into 
certain studies, and not a general method. 

The teacher is here less a professor who sets forth what 
he knows, than one who stimulates the intelligence. This is 
why we do not think, Mr. Spencer to the contrary notwith- 
standing, that the object-lesson should be continued beyond 
the first years of school instruction. The object-lesson 
greatly promotes a knowledge of material things, and 
chiefly develops the faculty of sensible observation. Now, 
in the work of instruction it is necessary as soon as pos- 
sible to dispense with concrete and material things in order 
resolutely to throw the child into the domain of abstract 
and general ideas. Of course, in the teaching of history and 
number, and iu the higher instruction in the physical and 
natural sciences, the teacher is not forliidden to appeal to 
the child's imagination and to sensible representations ; it is 
even necessary to do this on occasion. But this will be only 
an accident, an exception, at most a special element in the 
lesson. This appeal to experience will no longer constitute 
an object-lesson properly so-called. 

331. Rules for Object-lessons. — From the fact that 
the object-lesson is above all else* a free and familiar con- 
versation of the teacher with his pupils, it must not be 
inferred that it has no rules and principles. 

" On the contrary," says Madame Pape-Carpantier, " it has fixed 
rules which are independent of the fancy of teachers. ... Its 
principles and rules are the same as those which govern the oper- 
ations of the human understanding." 

1 Spencer, op. cit, pp. 133, 134. 



318 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

The first of these rules is that each lessou should have a 
definite purpose, its determined scope. 

" Tlie teacher," adds Mr. Bain, " should consider what is to be 
the drift of the lesson. That at the outset lessons are more or less 
desultory, perhaps cannot be helped ; but they should gradually be 
brought under some of the 'Unities.' " 

332. The Necessity of a Systematic Plan. — It is not 
only necessary that each lesson should have its definite 
purpose, l)ut also that the successive object-lessons should 
be connected and, so to speak, brought into proper subor- 
dination. 01)ject-lessons would be a chaos of sterile con- 
versations and profitless talk, if they were disconnected and 
were to proceed at random in the vast field which is open to 
them. 

" Object-lessons should be given in a systematic course, each one 
conveying its own teaching and bearing some palpable relation to 
the one that has preceded and the one that follows, thus leading 
the pupil to the discovery of the relations, and enabling him to 
associate them in memory. Desultory object-lessons are of little 
worth." 1 

333. Preparation of Object-lessons. — A thing not 
less necessary is that each lesson should be carefully pre- 
pared. Nothing should be left to chance in these familiar 
conversations, and the teacher should be all the more pre- 
pared on all tne parts gf his sul)ject. as an unexpected 
question asked by his pupils might surprise and disconcert 
him. 

" 01)ject-lessons demand such a studied preparation, such a pro- 
found knowledge of the subject, ^;o much tact and intelligence, and 
finally sucli a judiciously arranged collection of objects, that this 
kind of instruction has not yet gained a foothold in the schools. 

1 Johonnot, op. cit., p. 92. 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 319 

Much has been said about them in scholastic circles, and some 
teachers even pride themselves that they have been successful in 
their use ; but up to the present time they can be credited only 
with good intentions." ^ 

334. Order to be Followed in Studying the Qualities 
OF Objects. — Madame Pape-Carpantier thought it very 
important that in observing the qualities of objects we 
should restrict ourselves to an invariable order, derived, as 
she claimed, from the natural course which the mind fol- 
lows in its perceptions. It would be necessary, on this hy- 
pothesis, to proceed alwa3^s in the same manner and to call 
the child's attention successively to the color, the form, the 
use, and the matter or constituent elements of the object 
studied. Mr. Bain is not of his opinion. 

" The most useful direction for conducting it is, first, to point 
out the appearance or sensible qualities of an object, and next to 
specify its uses. A better rule would be, to give the uses first 
(after the most obvious aspects) ; use is quality m act, and our 
interest in things is first excited by their active agency." ^ 

And taking glass as an example, Mr. Bain remarks that it 
is useless to say to pupils that it is hard, smooth, and trans- 
parent, — things which they already very well know. That 
which will interest them, on the contrary, and that which 
will instruct them, will be to lead them to reflect on the 
different uses of glass, and perhaps also on the various 
circumstances of its discovery or on its history. 

335. School Museum. — Object-lessons require the or- 
ganization in the school of little school museums, where the 
teacher may find within his reach the objects which are to 
serve as a text for his lesson. 

1 Rapports et inspection ge'ne'rale, 1879-1880, p. 210. 

2 Bain, Education as a Science, p. 249. 



320 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

These museums ought in great part to be constructed by 
the pupils themselves. 

" Children are asked, for example, to bring on the morrow 
leaves of two trees which they have, perhaps, never thought of dis- 
tinguishing, as the pear and the apple, the pine and the fir, or cer- 
tain species of the poplar ; or such a stone or mineral, or specimen 
of wood, or such a manufactured product as is found in the coun- 
try, but which is lacking in the little school museum. Something 
ought always to be wanting in a school museum, and it would not 
displease me to be told that each generation of scholars is obliged 
to reconstruct it, so to speak, anew by its own researches. The 
great profit to be derived from these little museums of object- 
lessons does not consist in having them, but in making them." 

" The school museum," says M. Cocheris, to the same effect, " is 
the work of time, and ought to contain samples of the local indus- 
try and specimens of the natural products which contribute to the 
wealth of the cotmtry." 

Complaint is sometimes made, and not without reason, 
that in certain schools the school museums assume exagger- 
ated proportions. It is not the purpose, in fact, to bring 
together a collection of curiosities, or to establish a show}' 
museum filled with useless articles designed to strike the 
imagination of visitors to the school ; but to collect, in order 
to make use of them, the objects which may really con- 
tribute to the instruction of the child. The best museum is 
not that where the most specimens are pressed into elegant 
show-cases, but that of which the most use is made. 

But, generally speaking, such museums do not exist in 
our schools, or exist only in an embryonic state. 

" School museums develop but slowly. What is easier, however, 
than to collect from the grocer, the apothecary, the seedsman, the 
druggist, from field and garden, the elements of a useful collec- 
tion ? 

" AVhen they exist, peojjle do not know how to make use of them. 
The specimens generally disappear under a thick coating of dust." 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 321 

336. Principal Mistakes to be Avoided. — But what 
is still much more iraportaut than the material eouditious of 
the ohject-lessou, conditions supplied by the school museum, 
is the manner in which the teacher interprets this exercise. 

By reason of the very liberty which characterizes this 
mode of teaching, the object-lesson is a delicate thing to 
administer ; and a great number of faults and of possible 
inconveniences ought to be noted and shunned. 

337. Superfluity of Object-lessons. — 01)ject-lessons 
like those which are sometimes given ai'e certainly super- 
fluous. They squander precious time, as Mr. Bain observes, 
on things children already know or which they miglit learn 
of themselves, either by their personal observation or by 
conversations with their parents or their companions. 

We recall the tiresome exercises which Pestalozzi im- 
posed on his pupils before the old paper-hangings of the 
school-room : There is a hole in the hangings. The hole in 
the hangings is round, etc. " How many object-lessons which 
are thus but a sterile verbiage, in which children are taught 
by many repetitions that snow is white, that ink is black, 
that glass is transparent, that a bird has two claws and one 
head, that a horse has two eyes, two ears, and four legs, 
etc. ! " 

338. Words without Things. — The object-lesson, im- 
perfectly understood, has sometimes become a purely verlnil 
exercise. Pestalozzi, one of the first who made use of it, 
employed it as a means of teaching the exact meanings of 
words. His exercises in intuition were chiefly exercises in 
language. It is certainly a good and useful thing to asso- 
ciate with exercises in observation a drill in language. Rut 
with respect to the object whlcli is shown the child, nnd 
under a pretext of analyzing its qualities, we must be strictly 



322 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

on our guard aguinst making use of technical and scientific 
terms wliose meaning he is incapalile of comprehending. 
As some one has said, one single recommendation compre- 
hends all the others : Let the object-lesson never degenerate 
into a lesson of words. 

339. Abuse of Sense-perception. — Mr. Wickersham, 
an American teacher, justly remarks that " the object-lesson 
system is apt to coutiuuo instruction in the concrete after 
pupils can appreciate the abstract." 

" The elements of all kinds of knowledge must be taught in con- 
nection with objects, but an acquaintance with material tilings is 
far from being the highest end of study ; and object-teaching 
pushed too far tends to degrade education. Back of all, there are 
prmciples, ideas, controlling things, which are the soul's most 
nourishing pabulum. Soon after a child has learned to count 
with objects, he may begin to count without them ; soon after he 
has become acquainted with real forms, he may begin to deal with 
ideal ones." ^ 

The object-lesson is evidently but a means for rising 
higher ; it is, in some sort, a passage which must be 
traversed in order to go farther, but where it would be 
unwise to taiTy too long. 

340. Object-lessons not to Form a Regular Coukse. — 
The mistake of a great number of teachers has been to con- 
sider object-lessons as a special item in the programme, and 
consequently to carry into them the ordinary habits of in- 
struction and the regularity of a systematic course. The 
object-lesson, to be in real conformity with the principles 
which have inspired it, ought to remain free, flexible, ver- 
satile, and animated, just like the young minds to which it is 

1 Wickersham, op. cit., pp. 158, 159. 



OBJECT-LESSONS. 323 

addressed. Too often it has degenerated into monotonous 
interrogations, and into dry and formal nomenclatures. 

" It is not desirable," says M. Buisson, " to have the object- 
lesson begin and end at a fixed hour. Let it be given on the occa- 
sion of a reading or writing lesson, or in connection witlr the dic- 
tation exercise, with the lesson in history, geograpliy, or grammar. 
If it occupies two minutes instead of twenty, it will be only the 
better for that. Often it will consist, not in a series of consecutive 
questions, but in one spirited, precise, and pointed question, which 
will provoke a reply of the same sort ; it will often be but a sketch 
upon the blackboard which will be worth more than a complete 
description. One day the object-lesson will be a visit to an indus- 
trial establishment or to an historic monument; on another, it 
will be a tour of observation, or a ramble in the woods, or a hunt 
for insects or plants." 

Like most educators, M. Buisson perhaps gives too great 
an extension to the meaning of the object-lesson, and 
wrongly confounds it with the general spirit of intelligent 
and attractive instruction ; but with this reservation we 
must accept his opinion and consider the object-lesson, not 
as a systematic course of insti'uction whicli is to be confined 
within immutable limits, but as a form of instruction infi- 
nitely variable and always adapting itself to circumstances. 

341. Actual Programmes. — The French official pro- 
gramme hardly speaks of object-lessons save for the 
maternal schools, l)y connecting witli them a knowledge of 
common objects and the first notions of natural history. 

The programme of the primary- schools proper is silent 
upon object-lessons ; but yet it is evident that it recom- 
mends them implicitly, since, in the statement of reasons 
which precede the enumeration of the different topics of 
instruction, the true method is defined in these terms : 

" In everv branch of instruction, the teacher at the outset uses 



324 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

sensible objects, cavises things to be seen and touched, and places 
children in the presence of concrete realities. 

" Primary instruction is essentially intuitive ; that is, counts 
chiefly on natural good sense, on the strength of proof, on that 
innate power which the human mind has to seize at first glance 
and without demonstration not all the truths, but the truths that 
are simplest and most fundamental." 

342. The Method of Object-lessons. — In one sense 
the method of ol)ject-lessons may be considered as synony- 
mous with the art which ought to animate all varieties of 
instruction, and endeavor to make them living and practical. 

With what enthusiasm did Madame Pape-Carpantier in 
1868 speak of the new method ! 

" But what, then, constitutes the value of object-lessons ? On 
what ground tire they so popular, so highly recommended, and in 
fact so profitable ? 

" Ah ! this is due to a great law terribly misunderstood, which 
ordains that there shall be no patient In education ; which requires 
that the pupil be an active agent in it, as active as the teacher ; 
that he be an intelligent co-laborer in the lessons which he receives 
from him, and that, according to the expression of the catechism, 
he co-operate in the work of grace. 

" That which constitutes the value of object-lessons, that which 
makes them agreeable and effective, is that they are in conformity 
with this law ; that they make an appeal to the personal powers of 
the child ; that they call into play, into movement, his physical 
and intellectual faculties ; and that they satisfy his natural need 
of thinking, speaking, moving, and changing from one object to 
another. It is that they appeal to his mind tln-ough the medium 
of his senses, and that they make use of what he knows and loves, 
to interest him in what he does not know or does not yet love, 
and because, in a word, they are for him the concrete, and not the 
abstract." ^ 

1 Madame Pape-Carpantier, Conferences, etc., 2 partie, p. 73. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 

343. Importance of the Study. — Is it really necessary 
to-day to insist on the capital importance of the study of the 
vernacular in the common school? Everybody agrees that 
it should be assigned the first place. " It forms," says 
M. Breal, " the beginning and the center of studies, and it 
is for pupils the principal instrument of progress." 

First, the study of the vernacular is valuable on its own 
account. Who can deny its immediate practical utility? 
One becomes truly a man only through the power to express 
his thought correctly and clearly. One is a citizen only on 
the condition of speaking the national tongue, the language 
of his fellow-citizen. Then, again, the knowledge of lan- 
guage is the key to all other knowledges. The common 
tongue puts us in communication with our fellows and satis- 
fies the needs of life ; the language of literature opens to us 
the treasures of human thought, and technology those of 
formulated science. 

But the study of language is valuable also through its 
influence on intellectual education. To know one's lan- 
guage is to know how to think. The extent of the vocabu- 
lary which you have at your disposal corresponds to the 
abundance of the ideas which you possess. The new words 
added to those you already know are so many conquests of 
your mind over the unknown. On the other hand, the pro- 
priety of the expression is equivalent to the accuracy of the 

325 
\ 



326 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

thought. Finally, the grammatical correctness which you 
know how to put into the construction of your sentences is 
directly related to the logic which governs your judgments 
and reasonings. To acquire the motlier tongue is not, then, 
merely to acquire verbal material, but, through tke mechan- 
ism of language, to develop and train the thought, of which 
language is but the instrument. 

344. Difficulty of this Instruction. — For children in 
easy circumstances, whose parents speak the tongue purely, 
the study of language offers special facilities. For them, 
and for tiiem alone, the national language is the mother 
tongue ; they have learned it without effort and by use at 
their mother's knee. But how many cliildren there are who 
have not this good fortune ! At home and in their neigh- 
borhood they hear the language spoken only incorrectly. 
For them the national language is truly a foreign tongue, 
which they must painfully study on the l)enches of the 
school.-^ 

But even for children who have been brought up, so to 
speak, on correct speech, this instinctive apprenticeship in 
the mother tongue is not sufficient. There always remains 
for them the need at least of extending their vocabulary, 
necessarily restricted ; of taking account of the meaning of 
words which they have vaguely retained, and which tliey 
understand only confusedly, of learning orthography, and 
finally of reflecting on the rules of grammar, without which 
the correctness of their style or of their language would 
always be poorly assured. It is nature which unties the 
child's tongue, and with the aid of parents teaches him to 
speak ; but it is study alone, with the aid of teachers, which 
teaches him to speak well. 

1 Wliat is here said of Frencli is in a considerable degree true of 
English, though our speech is less corrupted by patois. { P.) 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 327 

345. ■ The Purpose. — For a long time the study of lan- 
guage in our schools has been synon^^nous witii the study of 
grammar. When the distinction between the parts of a dis- 
course, conjugation, and syntax had been taught, it was 
thought that all had been done ; to-day we have a totally 
different idea of the teaching of the mother tongue, of its 
extent and scope. This instruction comprises three essen- 
tial things, and all three are of inestimable value. 

It is proposed: 1. To comprehend the vernacular; 2. 
To know how to speak it; 3. To know how to write it. 

The least that can be demanded is that the pupils in our 
schools comprehend their native tongue. It is certainly not 
proposed to teach them the twenty thousand words of which 
the language is composed,^ and to make of tlieir minds a 
living dictionary. What is necessary is that they know 
with all possible exactness the few hundreds of expressions 
which constitute the basis of the language. The possession 
of a clear and exact vocabulary is the necessary preparation 
for the reading of good authors. Too many children leave 
our schools without ever having formed a taste for personal 
reading, partly because they find in books too many words 
whose meaning they do not comprehend. 

Another essential purpose of language study is to learn 
to speak. With many people, occasions for writing may be 
comparatively rare, but occasions for talking occur every 
day "and every hour. Who, then, does not need, however 
humble his condition, to express himself with facility 
and correctness, if not with elegance? Doubtless it is not 
required to make praters and speechmakers, but it is neces- 
sary to put the future citizen in a condition to communicate 
his thoughts, to converse with his fellows, to manage his 
affairs, and to discuss his interests. 

1 The latest edition of an unabridsied English (American) dictionary 
enumerates 118,000 words as belonging to the English speech. (P.) 



328 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Finall}', written laugiuige must not be neglected, though 
it is of less importance than spoken language. Though 
comparatively new and of recent introduction into our 
schools, exercises in composition and dictation are not the 
less interesting nor the less useful. The teaching of lan- 
guage would be a derision if it did nothing more than cause 
the rules of grammar to be learned, and laboriously incul- 
cate the science of orthography on children who would 
never be called on to apply these rules or to use that 
knowledge in compositions of their own. Grammar and 
orthography are excellent things, but on one condition, 
however, — and this is that they are used, — that they are 
not for children as arms in the hands of soldiers who do 
not know how to handle them. 

346. Principles. — Thus understood, the teaching of 
language is an interesting and practical study, which is 
extending in all directions lieyond the old, narrow scheme of 
grammatical memory-lessons and exercises in orthography. 
In order to attain its true purpose, this instruction must 
conform to the natural metliod, which proceeds from the 
example to the rule, from the experiment to the law, from 
common use, from the concrete instance to the general and 
abstract precept. Grammar must be learned through lan- 
guage, and not language through grammar, as Herder said ; 
and Mr. Spencer declares that " as grammar was made after 
language, so it ought to be taught after it." "For a long 
time," as the Pere Girard said, " a healthy didactics has 
told us, 'Few rules, many exercises.' " 

The child enters the school having hardly any use of the 
mother tongue. Let what is lacking be supplied by graded 
selections from easy authors. In default of conversations 
which he has not heard, let the book envelop him. so to 
speak, in its precise terms, in its correct constructions, in 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 329 

an atmosphere of pure and clear speech. Let him be drilled 
in speaking, in constructing sentences, at first orally, and 
later by writing. Let the teacher give the example of 
exact pronunciation and of idiomatic expression. Let the 
blackboard present to the pupil models of simple state- 
ment ; and the child, familiarized little by little with the 
expressions and idioms of his native tongue, will be pre- 
pared for the didactic lessons which, without this prepara- 
tion, would infallibly have repelled him and wearied him 
without profit. 

347. Proposed Reforms. — From" ministerial circulars 
we quote a few passages which clearly indicate the direc- 
tion which should be given to instruction in the mother 
tongue. 

" In the course in French, many teachei'S make a misuse of the 
grammar, and think that all has been done when they have put 
into the memory of their pupils a great number of rules, distinc- 
tions, and technical terms. Insist that in this study abstractions 
and subtleties shall be avoided ; that the attention shall be given 
to applications and examples, especially to examples furnished by 
the reading and the explication of great writers. It is in this way 
that the language with its principal rules, its refinements, and its 
idioms, is learned much better than in the grammar." 
. " The old instruction ought to be replaced by hving lessons. 
The grammar should be reduced to a few simple and short defini- 
tions, and to a few fundamental rules which are illustrated by 
examples ; and in proportion as the intelligence of the children is 
developed, they must be supplied with the finest specimens of our 
literature. Here they must first be made acquainted with the sig- 
nification of words, even to their luce shades of meaning, and the 
succession and connection of ideas ; and later, the inversions and 
even the bold strokes of genius. In this exercise more depend- 
ence mvist be placed on that natural logic and grammar which 
children carry about with them, than upon the old mass of ab- 
stractions and formulas with which the memory is harassed with- 



330 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

out profit to the intelligence. Lhomond said a hundrerl years ago, 
" Metaphysics is not fit for children, and the best elementary book 
is the voice of the teacher who varies his lessons and the manner 
of presenting them according to the needs of those to whom he 
speaks." 

" The teaching of grammar will henceforth be no longer lim- 
ited to the purely mechanical study of rules, but these rules will 
become matter for explanations by the teacher." 

348. The Necessity of Grammar. — It was not left 
until the nineteenth century to dream of the absolute sup- 
pression of tlie gramniav in the course of instruction in lan- 
guage. Nicole, iu his book, the Education cViin prince, 
replied in these terms to the partisans of that illusion : 

" The thought of those who desire no grammar at all is but a 
thought of indolent persons who wish to spare themselves the 
labor of teaching it ; and, very far from relieving children, this 
plan infinitely burdens them, since it takes from them a light 
which would facilitate the understanding of their lessons and 
obliges them to learn a hundred times that which it would suffice 
to learn but once." ^ 

Let us pass by the question of indolence, for it would be 
quite as just to say that the system which consists in putting 
a grammar into the hands of pupils, and leaving them there 
to clear up tlie subject all alone, is a thought of indolent 
people ; but Nicole is right in holding that grammatical 
rules, preceded by explanations and illustrated by examples, 
relieve the mind of the child and economize precious time. 
Though the intelligence is repelled by abstract principles 
prematurely imposed upon it, it is disposed of itself to 
anticipate general rules which sum up its experience and 
How naturally from the examples on which it has been 

1 To the same effect Mr. Bain says, " The grannnar abridges the 
labor by generalizing everything that can be generalized." 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 331 

nourished. Here it reposes with pleasure, just as a victo- 
rious arm}" installs itself in fortresses where it makes sure 
of its conquest, and whence it dominates the successive 
advances it has made. 

However elementary the study of language may be, it 
permits, in our opinion, tlie knowledge of grammatical 
rules, which are but the resume of usage, the code of a 
language definitel}^ fixed. Progress in teaching here con- 
sists, not in suppressing rules, but in simplifying them, and 
in reforming the manner in which they are taught. 

349. The True Grammatical Method. — The true 
grammatical method, according to all that has just been 
said, consists in placing the main reliance upon the use of 
language, and in making the rules flow from examples which 
the pupil invents for himself, whicli he finds in books, or 
which the teacher suggests to him. 

This was the method of the Pere Grcard, who made the 
basis of grammatical instruction the use of the language 
which the child brings from home ; this use to be completed 
and corrected at school by the exercises which have taught 
him to read and write. 

" Let us recollect," he said, " that a multitude of examples re- 
peated and analyzed is the best code of language, since it intro- 
duces into rational practice the rules which by another method it 
would have to prescribe by arbitrary autliority." ^ 

It is useless to give a name to that method which is the 
method of reason and good sense ; we do not think that 
the least progress in the study of language has been made 
by saying, with certain educators, that it ought to be taught 
by the " analytico-syuthetic method." 

1 Mr. Bain is wrong when he asserts that pupils in general cannot 
study grammar with profit before the age of ten. " Grammar," he 
adds, " is more difficult than arithmetic." 



332 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

350. The Question of Text-books. — " If it is possible, 
no grammar in the hands of pupils," — so says the Minis- 
terial Circular of 1857. We do not think it is proper to go 
so far, and deprive ourselves of the aid of a book in instruc- 
tion as important as that of the mother tongue. A book 
is necessary at least for the pupils of the intermediate and 
higher courses, — a book that is well constructed, which the 
teacher is to use with discretion and intelligence. 

" Till lately," says M. Breal, " the book was the principal char- 
acter in the school-room, and the teacher was but the commen- 
tator on the book. On the contrary, it is through the mouth of 
the teacher that the children ought at first to know the rules. 
The book will be consulted as a memento.'" 

But however disposed we may be to magnify the office of 
oral explanations, the book is necessary. This is the ad- 
vice of Mr. Bain, who gives strong reasons to justify his 
opinion : 

" AVhat is printed is only what is proper to be said by word of 
mouth; and if the teacher can express himself more clearly than 
the best existing book, his words should be written down and 
take the place of the book. No matter what may be the peculiar 
felicity of the teacher's method, it may be given in print to be 
imitated by others, and so introduce a better class of books ; the 
reform that proposes to do away with books entirely, thus ending 

in the preparation of another book Again, it may be said 

that the children are not of an age to imbibe the doctrines from a 
printed book, but can understand them when conveyed with the 
living voice. There is much truth in this, but it does not go the 
length of superseding the book, which will still have value as a 
means of recalling what the teacher has said, and as the basis 
of preparation to answer questions thereon. If a class is to be 
taught purely viva voce, its progress must needs be very slow." ^ 



1 Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 344, 345. 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHEK TONGUE. 333 

351. QuAi^iTiES OF A Good Grammak. — Fenelon had 
indicated with precision the characteristics of a good 
grammar. 

" A professional grammarian," he said, " runs the risk of com- 
posing a grammar that is too technical, too full of observations 
and exceptions. It seems to me tliat one should limit himself to 
a short and simple method. At first, give only the most general 
rules ; the exceptions will come as they are needed. The impor- 
tant point is to introduce a person as soon as possible into the 
actual application of rules by frequent use ; afterwards this per- 
son will take pleasure in noting the special rules which he at first 
followed without paying any careful attention to them." ^ 

After thi'ee hundred years, the criticisms and observations 
of Ft'nelon are still opportune, and the most competent edu- 
cators of our 'day do no more than repeat them. 

"In general," says M. Berger, "the grammars published for 
pupils are too full of details, and they are not yet affranchised 
from the plan of the Latin grammars. . . Our grammarians are 
too fond of classifications and distinctions which have no substan- 
tial basis. We believe that it would be possible greatly to dimin- 
ish the extent of our classical grammars, without doing harm to 
solidity of knowledge in the matter of language. Simplicity, 
then, is the first quality of a good grammar; and this simplicity 
should manifest itself by the small number of rules. Too many 
grammarians still recommend simplicity in form, without con- 
forming to it in fact ; it is not necessary to distinguish proposi- 
tions as subjective, completive-direct, completive-indirect, circum- 
stantial, attributive, etc." ^ 

352. Historical Grammar. — "We know what a com- 
plete revolution has been accomplished in grammatical 
studies by the introduction of the historical method. " The 

1 Lettre sur les occupations de V Acade'mie fran<^aise, II. 

2 See article Grammaire, Die. de Pe'dagogie. 



334 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

traditional grammar," says Micliael Breal, " formulated its 
prescriptions as though they were the decrees of a will as 
inscrutable as sovereign ; historical grammar casts a ray of 
good sense into the gloom." It substitutes explanations 
for simple affirmations ; it explains present usage by ancient 
usage. 

"What can be more natural," says M. Brachet, "than to make 
the history of language contribute to the explanation of grammat- 
ical rules by going back from actual usage to the very moment 
when they sprang into being ? Besides the advantage of being 
rational, the historical method has another ; the memory always 
retains more clearly that of which our mind has taken an account ; 
and the pupil will recollect the rules of grammar so much the 
better if they have a point of support in his intelligence. This is 
the method which the Germans, always solicitous^o stimulate the 
judgment of tlie child, have for a long time employed in their 
schools for the teaching of the national language." ^ 

Notwithstanding its interest, it is evident that historical 
grammar can be introduced only with difficulty into the 
common school. 

First, the historical grammar of a derivative language, 
like the French, goes back to the languages from which it 
has sprung, — to the Latin and the Greek; and these lan- 
guages really are, and ought to remain, dead languages for 
primar}' instruction.^ 

On the other hand, the purely national origin of the ver- 
nacular, the curiosities of the ancient tongue, would involve 
both teachers and pupils in learned researches which are 
beyond their sphere. 

So Mr. Bain is right in sa3nng : 

" There is great interest, and some utility, in tracing the course 

1 Brachet, Nouvelle Grammaire fran^aise, preface. 

- Notwithstanding what lias recently been said about it we do not 
think that the introduction of Latin into the normal schools should 
be hoped for. 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 335 

of our language from the more ancient dialects ; but this subject 
iHay easily run to a disproportionate length in the first stages of 
English teaching. Present meanings and use are the only guid- 
ance to the employment of the language ; the reference to arcliaic 
forms can sometimes account for a usage, but cannot control 
it." 1 

353. Dictation Exercises. — The dictation exercise is 
the essential process, the proper use of orthography, whicli 
is learned not less by habit and memory than Ijy the studv 
of rules and reasoning.'- But if dictation exercises are 
useful, it is on the condition that they are not abused and 
that they are wisely selected. 

" Too many dictation exercises are required in our schools, and 
there is too great a disposition to seek out ditlicult exercises. 
There are schools where, on the approach of examinations, there 
is nothing but dictation." ^ 

These exercises must not be too long* nor too fre- 
quent, nor should unnecessary difficulties be introduced 
into them. 

Another important rule is, not to impose on the child dic- 
tation exercises abounding in words which he has never 
seen, and which he is obliged to spell at hazard. So, many 
educators rightly recommend teachers to spell or write on 

1 Education as a Science, pp. 349, 350. 

2 We cannot subscribe to the opinion of teachers who assert that it 
is useless to require exercises in orthography proper, but that it is suf- 
ficient to rely upon reading, writing, composition, and grammatical 
exercises to teach spelling. Especially in the primary schools, where 
the child is not aided in the study of orthography by a knowledge of 
Latin and Greek, spelling exercises are required. 

3 Article OrthograpMe, Dictionnaire de Pedagogie. 

* In American schools consecutive texts are not generally dictated, 
but long lists of isolated words, as in the French collection, the 
Pautex. 



336 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the blackboard all the terms in the exercise which the pupil 
does not know. Orthography is learned mainly through the 
sense of sight, through the memory of the eyes.^ 

Again, these exercises should correspond to the rules 
already learned, and should be but the application of them. 

On the other hand, they should not be selected at random, 
without taking account of the age and the intelligence of 
children. They ought, like all other exercises, to contribute 
to the general education of the child. 

Is it necessary to add that they ought always to be cor- 
rected with care, and that the faults should always be 
pointed out in connection with the rules which have been 
violated? It is not necessary to spell all the words in the 
exercise, but only those which are really difficult. 

354. Grammatical and Logical Analysis. — In the 
teaching of language the thought of suppressing grammati- 
cal and logical analysis should not be entertained. An 
abuse has certainly been made of them, as when a teacher 
requires them as routine, mechanical work, devised to get 
rid of pupils and to avoid the need of giving attention to 
them. But analysis is necessary, because for the child lan- 
guage is but a confused whole, whose various elements he 
does not distinguish and whose construction he does not 
clearly grasp. 

Exercises in analysis may be employed in the form of 
oral exercises at the blackboard. Analysis made viva voce, 

1 The plan of teaching orthography by writing words seems to be 
based on the assumption that when we spell a word we reproduce 
the mental picture of it. On the contrary, it seems to me much 
more probable that for purposes of spelling our knowledge of words 
is nothing more than a recollection of the names and order of the 
letters which compose them. That any mind really carries the 
mental pictures of the words in an ordinary vocabulary seems to 
me incredible. (P.) 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHEK TONGUE. 337 

especially at first, is preferable to written analj^sis. But 
the thing of chief importance is the choice of tests for 
analysis. 

The monotonous and interminable analyses which impose 
on the child the toil of writing more than the toil of reflec- 
tion, are justly condemned. Their most obvious result is to 
disgust the pupil with the study. 

" I would have oiu' teachers," says M. Greard, " without depriv- 
uig themselves entirely of the resources offered by special collec- 
tions, become more and more accustomed to look for the tests they 
need in their dictations in classical works, and to construct their 
examples, or make their pupils construct them, oiit of the material 
furnished by the class instruction. What pages of transparent 
language, of exquisite thought, and of every variety, — moral es- 
says, descriptions, narratives, letters, — does our language contain! 
The national history is so rich in striking statements, ready-made, 
so to speak, to serve as examples in grammar ! Let it be at least 
on these texts, and on these well-selected examples, that the child 
be drilled in analysis. That which lias contributed to the disfavor 
into which analysis has fallen, is doubtless, first, the abuse which 
has been made of it ; but it is also the whimsical and tedious char- 
acter of the texts to which it has generally been applied, and of 
the performances to which it has given rise. The use of analysis 
is necessary if we wish the child to come to a good understanding 
of the relations of the different terms of a proposition or of a sen- 
tence. We need oppose only the excess, or the false direction, into 
which it has fallen, and for this purpose it suffices to make the 
analysis, for the most part, at the board, orally, in sparing terms 
on clear and interesting sentences." 

355. Order to be Followed. — Educators are not 
agreed as to the place which should be assigned to gram- 
matical and logical analysis. The official programme of 
1882 gives the preference to grammatical analysis ; but 
many writers, on the contrary, would begin with logical 
analysis. 



338 rilACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" Tn order to make the analysis of a sentence," says Madame 
Pape-Carpantier, " we must first make an analysis of the thought 
■which it expresses ; in other terms, a logical analysis, or the study 
of the ideas and their relations, ought to precede grammatical 
analysis proper, or the study of words as they are formed into 
sentences." 

" In the progressive development of the reason," says C. Marcel, 
"the perception of an object always precedes the consideration of 
its parts ; and we reach an understanding of our language by pass- 
ing from the sentence to the words." ^ 

Among Swiss teachers, on the contrary, there is a ten- 
dency towards the reverse order, or rather towards sacri- 
ficing logical analysis completely. 

" In the higher schools," says M. Horner, " if one has time to 
squander, he might afford the luxury of a few excursions into the 
desert of logical analysis." 

We are firm in the belief that logical anal^^sis is useful 
and necessary, but on the condition that we do not indulge 
in a terminology too compliciited and too technical, and that 
in the classification and naming of propositions we choose 
the simplest and clearest method. 

35G. ExEKCisES IN Invention and Composition. — The 
child in the primary school ought to be discreetly drilled in 
composition, or at least in the elements of composition. 

" Where is the child that would dare flatter himself that he will 
never have a letter to write, a memorandum to dictate, or a report 
to draw up ? " 

Surely there are such intimate relations between spoken 
language and written language, that much will already have 
been done to habituate the child to the work of composition, 

1 L' Etude des langues ramen€e a leur ve'ritable principe, 11., p. 26. 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHEll TONGUE. 339 

if, from his entrance into scliool, he has been made to con- 
verse, and if, in his recitations and in the object-lessons, he 
has been steadily required to express himself with correct- 
ness. But these oral exercises cannot take the place of 
written exercises. 

Some teachers seem to put exercises in invention and 
exercises in composition upon the same plane. 

"Ideas," says M. Greard, "do not come of themselves into the 
child's mind ; he must he taught to find them. Still less do they 
of themselves take the order and form which they ought to as- 
sume ; and so he must be taught to compose." 

To tell the truth, we do not think that invention ought to 
play an important part in sahool, and the importance which 
has been given to it seems to us but a reminiscence of 
secondary instruction. At college it may be proper to train 
future writers, and in general men who will need to draw 
original ideas from their own resources ; but at school we 
must think only of putting future workmen in a condition to 
expi'ess correctly and clearly the uleas which spring naturally 
and without reflection from the needs and circumstances of 
life. 

This is why we must not run the risk, with children of the 
primary school, when we propose to them a subject for com- 
position, to receive this repW, which often comes to their 
lips: " I do not know what to say"! Furnish them with 
the ideas they Reed, by conversations, by lectures, or at 
least by the choice of a subject borrowed from their own 
experience. 

"The first exercises in composition," says Horner, "will consist 
in reproducing, partly by writing or in recapitulating, the object- 
lessons. . . . There will next be undertaken a written description 
of common objects, but this description will always be preceded by 



340 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

an oral lesson and followed by a methodical recapitulation upon 
tlie blackboard. 

"The first idea of developing a few sentences, four or five at 
most, on the start, will be furnished liy the teacher. Even the 
scheme of the development will be prepared, and the pupil will 
be left to fill it in, by pointing out the causes, effects, and acces- 
sory circumstances of time, place, etc. This sort of theme might 
also sometimes serve as a text for an exercise in orthography. In 
whatever way the task is accomplished, if the corrections are 
made in the class, at the blackboard, and if each pupil furnishes 
the quota of ideas more or less just, more or less happy, which he 
has found, the teacher will have an opportunity to compare the 
contributions one with another, and to call into exercise the judg- 
ment of all." 

And M. Greard concludes that it is less important to 
teach children to write than to develop their judgment and 
their moral sense. We shall not deny this ; but it must 
not be forgotten that the habit of composing easily, cor- 
rectly, and if need be elegantly, has also its value, and that 
it is expedient for everybody. " The first quality of lan- 
guage," says M. Breal, "is propriety of expression, and it 
may as properl}' be required of the workman and the 
peasant as of the man of letters and the philosopher." 
Now, it is not merely by making him speak, but also by 
making him write, that the child is taught to form a correct 
notion of the meaning of words. 

357. Compositions from Pictures. — There is now such 
a desire to facilitate the child's work that resort is often 
made to refinements, to processes which may have their 
utility, provided they are not abused. Such is the use of 
compositions from pictures^ an American importation, and an 
application of intuitive instruction to exercises in composi- 
tion. In this case the child has but to see and to tell what 
he sees in the pictures placed before his eyes. But this 



THE STUDY OF THE MOTHER TONGUE. 341 

recreative exercise sliould not be made general, and it will 
always be much better to describe to children the things 
themselves, the concrete and living realities. 

A refinement of the same sort is the exercise which con- 
sists in translating a selection of verse into prose. 

"This exercise," says Cadet, "may at least render the service of 
marking the distinction between poetical language and ordinary 
language, in the use of words and the construction of sentences."^ 

As for ourselves, we do not believe that there is any great 
value in practicing this kind of transposition or of transmu- 
tation, as Belgian teachers say. It is much better to use 
simplicity, and require the child to describe a walk which 
he has taken or an event which he has witnessed. 

358. Exercises in Elocution. — Elocution is no less 
important than composition ; to know how to speak is even 
more necessary than to know how to write. Hence the 
imix)rtance accorded by Swiss and Belgian teachers to oral 
exercises. In France, our official programme requires the 
oral reproduction of short sentences read or explained, then 
of narratives recited by the teacher, the resume of selections 
read in the class, the report of lectures, of lessons, of walks, 
of experiments, and recitals of literary and historical selec- 
tions. 

359. Literary Exercises. — "Without presuming too 
much, we may assert that the primary school itself will 
tend more and more to initiate the child into the study of 
literature, and will inspire him with a desire to continue for 
life, by personal reading, a pursuit full of attractions. 

It is mainly in the form of lectures given by the teacher, 
and of recitations given by the pupil, that this instruction 

1 Article Langue Matemelle, in the Dictionnaire de Pedagogie. 



342 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

will be given. To these there might be added literary criti- 
cisms, which will have the advantage of accustoming the 
pupil to write, at the same time that they will exercise his 
taste and biiug him into more intimate relation with the 
beauties of literature. Of course all these exercises should 
be conducted with discretion. It is especially in the teach- 
ing of literature that the instructor ought to recollect this 
reflection of M. Greard : '' The object of primary instruc- 
tion is not to embrace, under the different subjects which 
it touches, all that it is possible to know, but to lea:n 
thoroughly in each of them what no one should be igno- 
rant of." 



CHAPTER V. 

THE TEACHING OE HISTORY. 

360. History in the Common School. — Twenty years 
ago history had not yet gained an entrance into the common 
schools of France. 

Even in the day of grand projects and at the heroic 
epoch, I mean under the Revohition, the boldest organizers 
of the national schools, Talleyrand and Condorcet, had not 
included history in their programmes. This was because, 
in the ardor of their struggle agaiust the old regime, and in 
their enthusiasm, sometimes fanatical, for the new order of 
things, the early revolutionists had come almost to believe 
that the history of France dated only from May 5, 1789. 
Why recall memories of a past forever abolished? Of 
what use to relate the long history of the French monarchy ? 
That history had disappeared in the night of August 4, with 
the abuses and the privileges of the time ! 

But these prejudices have happily disappeared. In 1833 
M. Guizot introduced history, and particularly the history 
of France, into the higher common schools; and in 1867 
another historian, M. Duruy, accomplished the same reform 
for the benefit of the primary schools. 

361. Purpose of Historical Instruction. — When the 
history of France is taught to little Frenchmen, the purpose 
is surely to develop their patriotic emotions and to train 
them up in civic virtues. In fact, history is an admirable 
school of patriotism. By means of it one's country ceases 

343 ' 



344 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to be a cold abstraction ; it becomes a real, living being, 
whose destiny the pupil follows through the centuries, glad- 
dened, elated by its successes, moved and affected by its 
reverses. Instructed by the principal events of the national 
history, familiarized with the names of its illustrious men, 
the child will believe himself a member of a great family, 
which he will love the more because he will know it the 
better. He will feel himself pledged to defend the heritage 
of his fathers, when he knows at what a costly sacrifice it 
has been acquired and preserved. He will be ready to 
imitate the beautiful and noble examples of his ancestors, 
when a faithful narrative has nourished his imagination 
with them. 

362. Influence of History on the Development of the 
Mind. — But history offers still other advantages. Even 
reduced to its simplest elements, and brought within the 
comprehension of children, it contributes to emancipate the 
reason and to train the judgment. Between the man igno- 
rant and narrow, whose thought does not pass beyond the 
horizon of present events, and him who, moderately in- 
structed in the history of his country, has some idea of the 
progress of the ages and of the painful crisis out of which 
modern France has issued, what a distance, wliat an abN'ss ! 
There are studies of which it may be said that they are the 
liberators of the spirit ; history, with the sciences, ranks 
among the first of these. How many belated souls would be 
relieved of their prejudices if history, intelligently studied, 
presented to them the spectacle of the changes that have 
been accomplished and of the marvelous transformations 
that have renewed the face of the world ! How many 
adventurers and sectaries would be cured of their folW, if 
they could be sent to the common school foi- a few mouths, 
and in history made to touch with the linger the necessary 



THE TEACHING OF HISTOKY. 345 

slowness of social progress ! History teaches patience to 
those who lack it, and hope to those who grow discouraged. 
On the one band, it gives wings to the imagination ; on the 
other, historical knowledge is as ballast which gives equilib- 
rium to the sphit and moderation to the judgment. 

363. Characteristics and Limits of this Instruction. — 
It cannot be proposed in the common school to undertake 
the study of universal history. Here the national history 
ought to be the single object of instruction. The facts of 
ancient history or of general history should be introduced 
only by reason of their intimate relations with the nation's 
history, and in the same proportion as they explain its desti- 
nies. It is important, moreover, that the national history 
be taken up at its beginning in order that it may l)e con- 
tinued and carried forward to the end. In American scliools 
the middle age is almost completely ignored. This is well 
enough for a nation hardly a century old, Init it should not 
be the same with us. Our history is a whole which cannot 
be divided. In order properly to comprehend the Revolu- 
tion, we must know the feudal system and the absolute 
monarchy. We can l)e indifferent to nothing which our 
ancestors have done, to nothing which they have suffered. 
Moreover, the old history of the Middle Age is particularly 
interesting to the child ; here the picturesque predominates 
and dramatic incidents abound. 

It is not merely by fragments and detached narratives, 
but in a regular and consecutive course, that the history of 
their country in its vast compass should be presented to 
children. Doubtless with beginners it is well and perhaps 
necessary to resort at first to anecdotes and biographies ; 
but as soon as possible we must require the child to follow 
the march of time and teach him the succession of facts in 
their chronological order. 



346 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" Do not proceed at random," says M. Lavisse. " Weave firmly 
the woof on which you are to delineate th6 grand facts and the 
grand figures of history." 

Complete and regular, the teaching of history ought at 
the same time to be temperate without ceasing to interest 
and to please. Especially in the common school it is neces- 
sary to avoid the dryness of a simple chronological nomen- 
clature and the diffusiveness of an over-rich erudition. In 
order to escape fatigue and confusion, the attention must be 
held to the great facts. 

" Our better teachers," says M. Greard, " know that in history 
it is the solid framework of great events and of generative ideas 
that they are to engrave in the intelligence of children, without 
losing themselves iu the details of accessory facts and secondary 
ideas." 

Finally, without omitting anything essential, the intelligent 
teacher will know how to choose the facts which deserve more 
than others to retain the attention and to be more fully 
related and explained. In his choice he will be guided by 
the definition given by Voltaire : '' Real history is that of 
the manners, the law^s, the arts, and the progress of the 
human spirit." He will not lose his way, like the historians 
of former times, in tedious details and descriptions which 
have no practical value. 

" Supposing even that you had diligently read," says i\Ir. 
Spencer, " not only ' The Fifteen Decisive Battles of the ^^"()rld,' 
but accounts of all other battles that history mentions ; how much 
more judi«ious would your vote be at the next election?" 

364. Fundamental Notions of History. — English 
teachers are troubled, and not without reason, with the 
difliculty the child experiences in entering into the woi'ld of 
history, in comprehending its fundamental notions, or what 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 347 

Mr. Bain calls the elements of history. From an earl)" hour 
the child sees about him hills, valleys, watercourses, plains, 
villages, and cities ; it will be easy then to inititate him into 
geographical studies ; but society, tlie state, public offices, 
even the idea of the past, — these are things which surpass 
the mind of the child, reduced as he is to his sensations 
and confined within the narrow circle of the family or of the 
school. 

Thus English teachers are of the opinion that the teacher 
of history should first give a short series of lessons, either 
oral or, better, borrowed from a good book, by means of 
which he should attempt to make intelligible some of the 
simple and fundamental ideas of liistory, as a state, a 
nation, a dynasty, a monarch, a parliament, legislation, 
justice, taxes, etc.^ We cannot too stnmgly condemn a 
method lilvc this, which, at the l)eginning of tlie study of 
history, would re-establish the abstractions which have 
been discarded with such difficulty from the beginning of 
other studies. Those so-called historical elements are but 
general notions, of which tlie cliild has no need for the 
understanding of particular facts and for acquiring an 
interest in a moving narrative. History is pre-eminently a 
science of facts, and it is especially with children that it 
must preserve this character. Little by little, and witli the 
child's progress in study, these notions, supported upon 
facts, will classify themselves. 

365. Two Systems for the Distribution of Subject- 
matter. — It is a difficult question to know which is better : 
the ancient programme, whicli presented the whole of our 
national history to the children of tlie common school three 
times, proportioning the breadth of the treatment and 

1 Fitch, op. cit., p. 370. 



348 PRACTICAL rEDAGOGY. 

adjusting the nature of the questions to the child's progress 
in age and in intelligence ; or the order followed in sec- 
ondai-y instruction, which consists in dividing the history of 
France into several periods, in making several portions of 
it, each of them being allotted to a different class. 

366. Advantages and Disadvantages of tjie Ancient 
System. — According to the ancient method, the teacher 
passed over the same road three times, but each time the 
subject was enlarged ; and it is impossible to deny the 
advantages of a system which it was wrong to abandon com- 
pletely. Through the effect of repetition, the facts were 
better engraved in the memory of the children ; and besides, 
on this plan, from the elementary course the pupil has 
an idea, however incomplete it may be, of the general 
course of the national history. Finally, as they bear three 
times on the same sulijects, the lessons may be skillfully 
graded and adapted to the age of the pupils. 

But the disadvantages of a triple repetition are not less 
evident. First, ennui is to be feared ; for in the last two 
courses there is no longer any surprise ; there is nothing 
absolutely new for the pupil. 

Besides, it is to be feared that the teacher, obliged to 
exhibit the whole history of France at one view, may not 
be able to make a leisurely survey of the most important 
epochs. Now, with children particularly, history is valu- 
able only through its details. Hence it would seem to be 
necessary to divide the course into several parts, so as not 
to oppress the minds of beginners under the weight of a 
chronology too extended and too complicated. 

367. Actual Programme. — These reflections seem to 
have inspired the autliors of the programme of 1882, who 
organized the study of history upon a new plan. 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 349 

Below is the text of the actual programmes. It will be 
noticed that they are very sliort, that they do not enter into 
detail, and that they simply fix the distribution of the 
topics, righth' leaving to the teacher the liberty of moving 
at his ease within the limits that have been traced for him. 

Elementary Course : Narratives and familiar conversations 
upon the most important characters and the principal facts of the 
national history, up to the beginning of the Hundred Years' War. 

Intermediate Course : Elementary course in the history of 
France, insisting exclusively on the essential facts since the Hun- 
dred Years' War. 

Higher Course: Very summary notions of general history; 
lor antiquity, Egypt, the Jews, Greece, Rome ; for the middle age 
and modern times, great events, studied especially in their rela- 
tions to the history of France. 

Systematic review of the history of France ; a more thorough 
study of modern history. 

Presented at first in the form of narratives and anec- 
dotes, but always in a chronological order, down to the 
Hundred Y'ears' War, the history of France does not con- 
stitute a regular exposition, consecutive and didactic, except 
in the Intermediate Course. It is completed in this form 
during the two years of the Intermediate Course ; but in 
the Higher Course it is systematically reviewed from begin- 
ning to end, and in its most recent periods it is exhaustively 
studied. 

The actual system is a just medium between the two 
methods which we have indicated. On the one hand, in 
the first two courses the history is divided into two parts, 
from the beginning down to 1328, and from 1328 to the 
present day. On the other hand the third course, save the 
addition of some notions on general history, is devoted to a 
systematic review, and on certain points is exhaustive. 

This mixed system escapes the faults and embodies the 



350 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

advantages of the two exclusive systems. As it seems to 
us, however, it has one great disadvantage, — that of keep- 
ing the youngest children of the school for too long a period 
on the remotest epochs of our history. 

Is it not to l)e feared that, expatriated to their ninth year 
in remote centuries where notliing recalls to them the 
present, the beginners may not Tiring to the study of 
history an interest that is vivid enough? 

3G8. The So-called Regressive Method. — This dis- 
advantage is so real that certain teachers have had the idea 
of recommending a strange method which in Germany is 
called the regressive method, and which consists in teaching 
history backwards, by beginning at the end and ascending 
the course of the ages. 

"In England, in the primary school," says M. Greard, "the 
study of history is begun with the contemporary period, for the 
purpose of giving the intelligence of the cliild a good grouuding 
in the ideas of the time in which he is called to live." 

This system has had but few imitators in France. I very 
well know that in geography we start from the village 
school to radiate little by little over the whole world ; but 
in history it is impossible to follow the same course. We 
must resign ourselves to the necessary conditions of each 
study, and it would be absurd to attempt to invert the 
chronological order. 

However, let us retain one just and practical idea from 
this whimsical scheme ; in the teaching of history it will be 
best as often as possible to compare the past with the 
present, and to illustrate ancient events by comparisons with 
contemporaneous events. As some one has said, " In 
primary instruction every lesson in history should begin 
with the word forme rly, and continue witli the word to-day." 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 351 

3G9. General Method to be Followed. — The order 
to be followed is not debatable, — it is the order of time; 
but the method, what shall it be? 

First, let us say that it should not be the same for the 
different courses. That which is possible and desirable 
with the most advanced pupils is not ahva3\'3 so with tlie 
beginners. 

Let us add that the teaching of history, more perhaps 
than any other, admits a great variety, a great liberty iu 
means. We shall not, however, go so far as to say, with 
Mr. Bain, " that the teaching of history almost appears to 
defy method." 

No, there are general rules to be followed, there are 
accessory processes to be employed ; and the best proof of 
this is that the men charged with the inspection of scliools 
always find much to censure in what is done in them with 
respect to the teaching of history. 

370. Ordinary Faults in Historical Teaching. — In 
the Rapports of the Inspectors-General of primary instruc- 
tion we notice a number of observations relative to the 
most ordinary defects iu the teaching of history. 

" The history is recited, but not understood. Almost every- 
where history is but a simple repetition. The lesson is explained 
when it is too late. Pxipils recite without compreliending; the 
explanations are generally insufficient. The teacher is lost in 
the gloom of the first centuries ; there is absolute silence as to 
modern times. Hardly anywhere is history brought down to the 
period when it begins to become the most interesting. The 
attention is usually restricted to the study of dynasties and the 
chronology of battles. The teacher seems afraid to take up the 
history of the Revolution. Questions are much too rare. The 
lesson is rarely prepared by the teacher. History is generally 
the subject that is most neglected. Most frequently history is 
taught only in the higher divisions." (Rapports of 1879, 1880.) 



352 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" Too much time is still given to the aecouiits of battles. 
Teachers are satisfied with the pure and simple repetition of the 
text without any development of the subject. History is too 
much isolated from geography. The course is begun, but is 
rarely finished. Written review is most often wanting. The 
study of history, conducted exclusively from the book, remains 
profitless." {Rapports of 1880, 1881.) 

In a, word, history is still too often an exercise of pure 
repetition, in which the book plays an exclusive part. The 
teacher does not participate in it sufficiently by oral 
expositions, by explanations, and by comments. Besides, 
he lingers too long on the ancient period, and, either from 
having a poor knowledge of his own times or as a conse- 
quence of certain scruples, he abridges or even omits the 
history of the Revolution and of the contemporary period. 
The accounts of battles weigh more with him than the more 
useful analysis of institutions and manners. Finally, the 
processes which are wholly indispensable for good instruc- 
tion, — interrogations and written reviews, — are totally 
neglected. 

371. Recommendations made by Teachers. — After the 
complaints of the Inspectors, let us hear the recommenda- 
tions made by the teaching body itself. All of them are 
not faultless, but most of them confirm the criticisms of the 
Inspectors-General, and prove that at least the best of the 
teaching profession are in accord with the wishes of their 
superiors. Let us say, in addition, that the following recom- 
mendations relate only to the elementary division or lowest 
class : 

" Teaching through sight by means of engravings. Instruction 
through the explanation of pictures. Pass rapidly over the early 
periods. Costumes, employments ; comparison by means of draw- 
ings and pictures of the industries of our ancestors with those of 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 353 

today. Let history, made as vivid is possible, be taught to chil- 
dren in the form of biographies or narratives. Instruction in 
history consists in auuising and instructive anecdotes related by 
the teacher and repeated by the pupils. Insti-uction given in the 
form of object-lessons may and should comprehend only the great 
facts, the great epochs of our history ; and yet it ought to be 
integral. Ascend the course of the ages by making history. The 
teaching of history should be wholly oral. Charts representing 
the great facts of our national history. A collection of twenty 
engravings, representing in a very clear and salient manner the 
principal characters of French history, is a necessity. Instniction 
in history will be given by means of short narratives, which 
children will be called upon to reproduce by means of questions 
l^repared in advance. It will serve to develop in children, not only 
the memory but the judgment, and especially the jirincipal civic 
virtues." 

372. What may be called Intuition in History. — We 
must have been struck, on reading the preceding extracts, 
with the importance which competent judges attach to the 
methods and processes which render the instruction in 
history interesting and animating. It is not necessary to 
address the memo it alone, although memory is the chief 
resort in history ; but we must also address the reasoning 
faculties, and cause events to be comprehended and judged. 
"It is not of so much importance to know where Mar- 
cellus died," said Montaigne, " as why it was unworthy 
of his duty that he died there." Above all, we must speak 
to the imagination, and, so to speak, resuscitate the past 
before the eyes of the child. Let the narrative of the book 
and the lesson of the teacher have enough relief and color, 
so that the child may see in some sort the things and the 
men that are spoken of. 

" Animate your narratives by lively and familiar tones," said 
Fenelon. "Make all your characters speak; and children who 



354 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

have a vivid imagination will believe they see them and hear 
them." And to the same eifect Guizot wrote : " Historical 
characters must seem to children real living beings whom they 
love or hate, whom they esteem or despise." 

To this intuition of the mind, which is the consequence 
of a well- told narrative, it is not useless to join, when it is 
possible, a real intuition of the eyes, by showing to the child 
vignettes and engravings which represent the principal 
characters and the great scenes of liistory. 

"Eight or ten well-made engravings," says M. Buisson, "with 
or without color, teach the children more about the ancient civil- 
izations than many pages of descriptions. A view of the pyra- 
mids or of the hypogea of Upper Egypt, an exact reproduction 
of the monuments, vessels, arms, and costumes of Rome or of 
Greece, gives a singular animation and support to the narratives 
of the teacher. It is an object-lesson transported into the most 
remote past." ^ 

However, pictures are but an accessory, and it pertains 
mainly to the art of the teacher or of the writer to animate 
the instruction in history and to give the child an interest 
in it. 

" During the first years," says Madame Pape-Carpantier, " his- 
tory ought to be presented to children in the form of anecdotes. 
The facts related ought not only to be chosen from the moral 
point of view, liut presented in an animated and picturesque 
manner. Let the teacher put into them a little of that action 
which is recommended to the orator, to the end that his recital 
may produce a picture in the imagination of his little pupils. 
In a narrative children love what is dramatic. We should give 
movement to our characters, make them speak, act, and, in a 
word, live. ... So far as possible, each detached feature should 
be accompanied by a sketch of the manners contemporary with 
the facts related ; for example, the mysterious life of the Druids 
in the forests which formerly covered the soil of our country." 

1 M. Buisson, L'Instruction primaire a Vienne, p. 181. 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 355 

373. A Lesson upon the Feudal System. — To show 
how a skillful teacher may succeed iu animating a lesson in 
history, even on a difficult subject ; in interesting an entire 
class in it by striking descriptions and by drawings upon 
the board, and in rendering the past clear and vivid by an 
incessant appeal to the experience or to the reason of the 
child, the best course will be to give an example, which we 
shall borrow from M. Lavisse. 

The following lesson was given at Paris, in the Faubourg 
Saint Antoine, to a class of children eight years of age : 

" I arrived at the moment when a young teaclier began a 
lesson on the Feudal System. He did not understand his busi- 
ness, for he spoke of hereditary sei'vices and ])rivileges in a way 
which left the children whom he addressed absolutely indifferent. 
At that moment M. Berthereau, the director of the scliool, enters. 
He interrupts the lesson and appeals to the whole class : " Who 
is there here who has ever seen a castle of the Feudal times?" 
No one replies. Tlie master then speaks to one of these young- 
inhabitants of the Faubourg Saint Antoine : " Have yovi never 
been at Viucennes ? " " Yes, sir." " Very well ; you have seen a 
castle of Feudal times." A starting-point has now been found 
in the present. " What sort of a building is this castle ? " Sev- 
eral childi'en reply in concert. The master selects one of them, 
leads him to the board and obtains a rough drawing, which he 
corrects. He marks indentures in the wall. "What is that?" 
No one knew. He defined an embrasure. " What was the 
purpose of this ?" Some one finally guessed that this served 
for defence. "With what did they fight, — with guns?" The 
greater number, "No, sir." "With what, then?" A young- 
scholar from the foot of the class cries out, " AVitli bows." 
" What is a bow ? " Ten reply, " It is an arbalist, sir." The 
teacher smiles, and explains the difference. He then tells how 
difficult it was with bows, and even with the military engines of 
the time, to take a castle whose walls were high and broad ; and 
continues: "When you are good workmen, and travel on business 
or for pleasure, you will meet with the ruins of castles." He 



356 - PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

mentions Montlhery and other ruins in the vicinity of Paris. 
" In each of them there was a feudal lord. What did all these 
lords do ? " The whole class replies, " They fought." Then 
in the presence of these children, no one of whom lost a single 
word, the master describes a feudal lord, placing the knights in 
the saddle and covering them with their armor. " But a castle 
is not taken with cuirasses and lances, and so the war w'as not 
finished. And who would suffer most from the war ? Those 
who liad no castles, the peasants who in those times worked for 
the lord. Then the cabins, belonging to the peasants of the 
neighboring lord, were burned. ' Ah ! you burn my cabins,' 
said the lord who was attacked ; ' I will burn yours.' He did 
so, and l)urned not only the cabins, but even the harvests. " And 
what happens when the harvests are burned ? There is a famine. 
Can people live without eating?" The whole class: " No, sir." 
" Then is war very necessary to find a remedy ? " He then speaks 
of the Truce of God, and adds : " This is truly a singular law. 
Why, it was said to the brigands, remain quiet from Saturday 
evening till Wednesday morning, but for the rest of the time 
do not trouble yourselves, — fight, burn, pillage, kill ! Were 
these people madmen then ? " A voice : " Most certainly." 
" No ; they were not madmen. Pray listen to me. Here are 
indolent people. I do the best I can to have them work the 
whole week ; Imt I would be half-satisfied to have them work 
till Wednesday. The church would nmch prefer not to have 
them fight at all ; but as she could not help it, she attempted to 
make the lords keep quiet half of the week. Something is always 
gained in this way. But the church was not successful. There 
must l>e force against force, and it is the king who brought all 
these people to terms." Then the master explains that the lords 
were not all of equal rank, and that below the master of such a 
castle there was a more powerful lord, and one of higher rank 
living in another castle. He gives a fairly connect idea of the 
gradations in rank, and at the top places the king. "When 
people are fighting with each other, who stops them ?" Reply, 
" The policeman.'' " Very well ; the king was a policeman. 
What was done with those who fought and killed somebody?" 
Reply : " They are brought to trial." •' Very well ; the king 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 357 

was a judge. Can we do without policemen and judges?" " No, 
sir." " Very well ; the ancient kings were as useful to France as 
policemen and judges. In the end they did evil, but they began 
by doing good. What did I say, — as useful ? Much more so ; 
for there were more brigands then than now. These lords were 
ferocious fellows, were they not ? " The class : " Yes, sir." 
" And the people, my children, were they any better ? " Unani- 
mous reply, in a tone of conviction : " Yes, sir." " No, no, my 
children. When they were cowards, the coi^imon people were 
terrible people. They also pillaged, burned, and killed ; they 
killed women and children. Reflect that they did not know 
what was good or what was bad. They had not been taught to 
read." ^ 

374. The Book. — There is a great distance between 
this varied and attractive instruction and the method too 
often in use, which consists in making the pupil read a 
book, and sometimes making him learn it mechanically by 
heart. 

As soon as possible the teacher ought to intervene, by 
familiar conversations in the lower classes, and by a con- 
secutive exposition with the older pupils. 

However, we do not think of proscribing the book, which, 
especially in history, is necessary for accuracy in dates and 
the memory of facts. It would be unwise to abandon the 
child to the hazards of memory and the possible errors of 
note-books. 

In default of a special book, as in Germany, it is at least 
necessary that the reading-book, that " encyclopedia of the 
common school," should contain among other things the 
historical notions the knowledge of which is thought to be 
indispensable. 

Better still are the elementary historical books, com- 
posed with exclusive reference to the common schools, and 

1 Eevue des Deux Mondes. 



358 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

similar to those which have been published for several years 
in France, which avoid dryness, long nomenclatures, gene- 
alogies, and superfluous details, which give children general 
impressions, clear views, and a taste for history. 

375. SuMMAKiES AND NARRATIVES. — An elementary 
book on history should comprise at least two essential 
parts, — summaries and narratives. 

The summaries should be as complete and at the same 
time as brief as possible. 

The pupil will learn these by heart •, for even in history 
there is a part for literal recitation to play. The special 
purpose of these summaries is to assure precision of ideas. 
They will fix in the child's mind the rigorous succession and 
order of events. By this means we shall escape the method 
of scattered anecdotes or of disconnected biographies, which 
is proper only for little children. 

There should not be too many narratives in an elementary 
book on history. The}' ought not to be learned by heart, 
and should receive only an attentive reading, enlivened 
by oral explanations, by the interrogations of the teacher, 
and by the responses of the pupil. It is especially b^^ these 
narratives that the child will be interested in the study of 
history ; he will find in them the portraits of great men, 
sketches of manners, beautiful examples, everything which 
characterizes the different epochs. 

Of course, besides the summaries and narratives, the book 
is also composed of a text^ more or less complete, in which 
the events are presented in their order and with the reflec- 
tions which they suggest. In a less elementary book this 
text will of itself constitute the whole work. 

376. The Duty of the Teacher. — It cannot be too 
often repeated that the teacher plays the principal part in 
the teaching of history. 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 359 

" It was long ago that Lhamond said that the best book is the 
living voice of the teacher. For this purpose we do not demand 
that he profess; for this word suggests the idea of pedantry, 
and the teacher who listens to his own voice has few chances of 
making himself heard. Simple and modest explanations, pre- 
ceded or followed by questions to illustrate them, — this is what 
Lhomond recommended." ^ 

The teacher ought to explain the book, and comment on 
it ; but he ought also to do without the book and venture 
himself to sketch the narrative of an event or of an histor- 
ical period. Especially iu the higher course he will substi- 
tute the living voice for the dead book, too often not 
comprehended. If he will prepare himself for this in ad- 
vance, and know just what he is going to say, and in what 
order, his oral exposition will be worth much more than the 
best of books. 

377. The Duty of the Pupil. — In the study of history, 
the pupil ought not to be merel}^ a reader or an attentive 
listener ; he must be made to speak and relate what he has 
learned from his book or from his teacher. No subject is 
better adapted to interrogations and to drill in speaking 
than history. Besides, as Greard reconnnends, the pupil 
should be invited to make a summary of the oral lesson. 
Short written themes and reproductions might also be re- 
quired of him on the subject which has been studied in the 
class, so that his own labor may be added to that of the 
teacher, and the history may not be for him, as it is too 
often the case, simply the occasion for eas}^ reading, accom- 
plished with distraction and without real profit. 

378. Incidental Aids. — The imagination of teachers, 
and especially that of authors, has multiplied inventions of 

1 M. Greard, L'Enseignemcnt primaire a Paris. Notwithstanding 
M. Greard, it is necessary that the teacher profess, that he be a pro- 
fessor. 



360 PRACTICAX PEDAGOGY. 

every sort to facilitate the study of history. In general we 
count but little on these auxiliary aids, such as synoptical 
and genealogical tables. Nevertheless, competent educators 
recommend the use of mural charts. 

Nor are pictures in all their forms to be despised. " It is 
to be hoped," says M. Buisson, " that popular art, escaping 
finally from its trivial uses, may become with us, as it 
already has in other countries, a means of diffusing useful 
knowledge, and above all that of the national history." 

379. History and Civic Instruction. — History is the 
natural preface to civic instruction, — that is, to notions 
relating to the actual constitution of the society in which the 
child is called to live. 

" The Americans," says M. Buisson, " teach history in view of 
political education. Tlieir reading-books contam quite numerous 
selections relative to the ancient republics. In modern times 
they dwell particularly on social and political institutions. . . . 
Themes like the following are assigned to the pupils : A parallel 
between Pitt and Washington." 

"Certain educators," says M. Braun, "think that his- 
tory and civic instruction ought to be united, and taught 
one with the other, one by the other." 

"Without going so far as to blend these two subjects, we 
ought not to forget the relations between them. Instruc- 
tion in civics can be but the coronation of historical studies ; 
and while relating with impartiality the history of his 
country, the teacher will be right in shaping his instruction 
in view of the political education which is proper to be given 
to children. 

380. History and Geography. — History has still more 
intimate relations with geography, and the recital of histori- 
cal events should not be separated from a description of 
the country where the events took place. Geography and 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY. 361 

chronology, says an old adage, are the two eyes of history ; 
and in fact, if we do not know the theatre where men have 
acted, it is difficult to form a just idea of their activity. 

381. Conclusion. — Thus understood, history is a truly 
profitable study and a branch of instruction adapted to 
children. Let us give ear neither to Jacotot, who denies 
its utility absolutely, nor to Mr. Bain, who asserts that 
of all the studies of youth there is none so beset with diffi- 
culties as history. In order to interest children, it suffices 
that it is at once " clear and living," according to Guizot's 
expression, that it appeal at once to then- imagination and 
to their memory. In order that it may be useful to them, 
it is sufficient that it be regarded above all as a school of 
morals and of patriotism. Doubtless, it would be assuming 
too much to demand that the child of the primary school 
should know, like a philosopher, the causes and connections 
of events, and that he discern the principles that lie back 
of facts. It is however necessary, in a certain measure, 
that for the ordinary child historical instruction should be 
something besides a simple narration of facts, and that he 
should be trained to judge of the good and the evil in 
human actions. " History is not really history," says M. 
Guizot, " except as we grasp the connection of events which 
succeed one another, and except it appear in its complete- 
ness as the evolution of a people." By reflection, then, let 
us connect the detached narratives with the great facts, and 
with the great personages which are as the mountain-tops of 
history ; let us require of the child that the chronological 
succession of events be clearly fixed in his mind ; let us 
distinguish the important periods, — all this without ceasing 
to be as simple, as elementary as possible, and while recol- 
lecting that in history, as in other things, we must know 
much in order to be capable of teaching a little. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 

382. Progress in Geographical Studies. — Geograph- 
ical studies are surely making progress iu France. We have 
been so often told that we were the most ignorant people in 
the world in geography, tliat our sense of honor has at last 
been touched, and we have made serious efforts to overtake 
our neighbors, the Germans. Even in the common school, 
the teaching of geography is on a quite respectable footing. 
The reports of the inspectors-general show that there is 
progress everywhere, that geography is carefully taught, and 
that this study is perhaps the one that pleases pupils the 
most. 

This progress is due doubtless, above all else, to the moral 
effect which recent disasters have produced on our minds. 
Since the day when our soil was invaded and our territory 
mutilated by foreigners, who liy means of their maps seemed 
to be at home, we have better understood the importance 
and the value of geographical studies. 

But this progress is also due to the happy change which, 
in late years, has profoundly modified the conditions of 
geographical teaching. For a dry and barren nomenclature 
of proper names and the repetition of an unintelligible 
vocabulary, modern pedagogy has sulistituted a living study, 
full of attraction, which addresses itself to the senses and to 
the intelligence ; which brings before the child by vivid and 
clear descriptions the nook of earth where he was born, the 
362 



THE TEACHING OF GEOaEAPHY. 363 

country for which he ought to feel willing to die if need be, 
and finally the entire earth, where in default of real travel 
he is happy to be able to make at least imaginary journeys. 
And at the same time that the general sphit of geographical 
teaching has been changed, art has placed at its service and 
introduced into the school new instruments of study, such as 
globes, maps in relief, wall maps, maps of all sorts, — in a 
word, a complete outfit, which facilitates the task of the 
teacher and enlivens the work of the pupil. 

383. New Methods : Rousseau and Pestalozzi. — Of all 

subjects geography is the one which seems best adapted to 
the processes of the new pedagogy, to the method which 
ordains that things shall precede words. Rousseau went so 
far in this direction that he admitted no other means but 
travel for learning geography. But here, as always, he goes 
astray through the exaggeration of a just idea. But he at 
least defines with wisdom the starting-point of all geograph- 
ical instruction. 

" For Emile the two first points in geography shall be the 
city where he lives and the country residence of his father ; 
then the intermediate places, next the rivers in the vicinity. . . . 
Let him make a map of all this for himself." ^ 

Pestalozzi, like Rousseau, demanded that the teaching of 
geography should be connected with the first sensations of 
infancy. At Burgdorf he made the pupils observe the 
little tract of country where they lived, not upon a map, but 
upon the very soil. 

Through the sight of actual things he gave them an idea 
of hills, mountains, rivers, and of the various geographical 
features. Then, when the child, through direct intuition, 
or at least by analogy, by proceeding from tlie small to the 

1 Emile, Book III. 



36^ 1'i.A.CTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

great, from the puddle of water to the sea, from a ditch to a 
river, has acquired a knowledge of the terms iu physical 
geography, Pestalozzi initiated him into political geography 
by analogous methods. Taking us a starting-point the 
family residence, he thence directed the children's attention 
to the village, the church, the school-house, the mayor's 
office, the route which led to the city, the city itself, and to 
the magistrates who resided there. Finally, proceeding to 
mathematical geography, he placed the pupil in presence of 
astronomical phenomena and made him observe the rising 
and setting of the sun, the Great Bear and the Pole-star ; 
thus he drilled him in finding the points of the compass, and 
determining the position of one place through its relation to 
another. 

384. Definition of Geography. — It would not be exact 
to say, with an American author, that " Geography is not so 
much a science in itself, as it is a collection of matter 
belonging to a number of sciences." ^ 

On the contrary, the object of geography is perfectly 
definite, — it is the description of the surface of the earth; 
it studies everything that relates to the form of our globe, 
and to the exterior and superficial phenomena of the earth ; 
though it must be admitted that certain geographers, taking 
advantage of the fact that their science has some sort of 
relation to everything, extend their domain perhaps beyond 
all proper bounds. Geography has such intimate relations 
with several other sciences that a natural tendency impels 
the geographer to pass the frontier which separates it from 
them. 

On the pretext that watercourses are fed by the rain, 
geography ought not to permit itself to become a course in 
physics and in meteorology. Because the description of the 

1 Wickersham, Methods of Instruction, p. 367. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 365 

soil affords an indication of the nature of the rocks, geog- 
raphy must not be confounded with geology. And so with 
botany, zoology, and political economy ; we must not take 
advantage of their relations with geographical studies, to 
trespass upon their peculiar domain. 

This caution has not always been observed. Thus Mr. 
Bain takes as a starting-point in the study of geography 
a series of lessons upon tools and instruments, minerals, 
plants, and animals. In our opinion, geography must not be 
encumbered with these parasitic notions which have only an 
indirect relation to its proper object. 

But we would not forbid the teacher of geography to make 
any incursion on the subjects that border on the study of 
geography itself. It is both profitable and interesting to 
enrich this subject in every way possible, as by giving an 
explanation of the facts which it relates, or by giving ani- 
mation to the instruction by interesting and fruitful com- 
parisons. 

385. The Utility of Geography. — First, geography 
pursues the same end as history. If, so to speak, the his- 
tory of France is the soul of the country, the national 
geography is its body. In its way it teaches patriotism by 
making known the territory of the country, and the frontiers 
that have been lost and those that have been saved ; and by 
making the child love the beautiful soil of France, its agree- 
able and temperate climate, and the natural riches that make 
it a privileged country. 

The Pere Girard, in his Explication du jylan de Fribourg, 
exhibited, though with some exaggeration, the moral bear- 
ings of geography. 

" Geography," he said, " is marvelously adapted to this sublime 
purpose. . . Let the reader judge of this from the following- 
essay. Aa au harinoiiioiis whole, it is an introduction to social 



366 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

life, which speaks to the sense and to the mind, and which surely 
ought to say something to the heart. It is calculated to inspire 
love of country and the emotions which are associated with it." 

However, let us not overstate the ease and say that the 
principal aim of geographical instruction is to develop the 
intelligence and the heart, " to stimulate the religious senti- 
ment." No; geography is chiefly valuable on the score of 
its practical utility. It fiuuiishes the future artisan with the 
necessary knowledge, the positive notions, which he will need 
in his trade or industry. Besides, it has the merit of intro- 
ducing the mind to the world of science proper, and of reveal- 
ing to it some of the laws of nature.-' 

386. Division OF Geography. — Everybody understands 
the distinction between physical geography and political 
geography. 

Physical geography, says the Dictionnaire of Littiv, is the 
description of the earth with respect to the division of its 
surface into continents, oceans, valley's, mountains, etc. 

Political geography is the description of the earth with 
respect to societies and states. 

In other terms, physical geography studies the natural 
features of the earth, while political geography adds to these 
the consideration of the work of man, the description of the 
inhabitants, of their industries, and of their social life. 

It is evident that the study of physical gcogra})hy should 
precede that of i)olitieal geography, but it may be profitable, 
even in an elementary course, to unite the two subjects, were 
it only to create an interest. 

" Ordinarily, physical geography is sharply distinguished from 
political geography. This separation is a mistake, and hardly 

1 For a somewhat different view of the value of geography, see 
Appendix D. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 367 

facilitates the process of learning quickly and well. On the 
contrary, the practice of teaching proves that physical and polit- 
ical details are mutually complementary and helpful, and that 
the former aids in retaining the latter, and vice versa." ^ 

There is still to be distinguished astronomical geography, 
which is a description of the earth with reference to the 
heavens, the climates, and the seasons ; and economic geog- 
raphy, which treats of the industrial productions of each 
country, of agriculture and commerce. But the first may, 
in a sense, be connected with physical geography, and the 
second with political geography. 

Mr. Bain gives a very high significance to physical geog- 
raphy, which holds an intermediate place, he says, between 
the ordinary geography and the higher sciences, physics, 
chemistry, meteorology, botany, zoology, and geology. It 
introduces considerations of cause and effect into geographi- 
cal facts, by selecting and stating in empirical form the prin- 
ciples methodically taught in the regular and fundamental 
sciences. 

"A course of physical geography is subsequent and sup- 
plementary to proper geography," — which Mr. Bain calls 
descriptive geography, — " while reacting upon it in a way 
that causation operates upon the knowledge of facts." ^ 

M. Buisson has eloquently characterized the scope of an 
advanced instruction in physical and political geography. 

" Through the progress accomplished in their respective domains 
by the physical and natural sciences, and also by the historical 
and political sciences, geography neither is nor can be any longer 
an isolated and restricted science. It does not merely describe, 
but it explainfT. The sight of actual phenomena suggests both 
for the past and for the future the most fruitful inductions: irreg- 
ularities of surface, which were formerly regarded as so many 

1 M. Foncin, Le Deuxieme Anne'e de geographie. 

2 Education as a Science, p. 279. 



368 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

freaks of nature, have found their laws, their causes, their place, 
in one universal harmony. The whole surface of the earth be- 
comes a living and moving world, and the monotony or the 
disorder which ignorance saw in them gives place to lofty gen- 
eral conceptions, as important for their practical applications as 
for their scientific import. It is no longer required to retain 
names, but to grasp grand phenomena, both in their aggregate 
and in their details. It is the physiognomy of a whole oro- 
gra^ic relief, of a whole hydrographic system, which must be 
considered ; it is the structure and the configuration of each 
region which must be grasped in order to connect with them the 
innumerable phenomena which depend upon them, and no one 
of which is a thing of chance, from the peculiarities of soil and 
climate to those of the fauna and the flora which are there de- 
veloped. 

When we come to know in this way the physical theatre where 
human activity is to be displayed, is there anything richer in the 
way of instruction than historical, political, and statistical geog- 
raphy ? The )noment we enter upon this science, the study con- 
stantly presents a double movement, that which is exercised on 
man by the situation, climate, form, and nature of the country 
where he lives, and in return that which man displays for modi- 
fying all these circumstances, for opposing them, or for making 
use of them for deriving profit from the earth and the soil, the 
air and the sea, according to the degree of intelligence and energy 
with which he is endowed. Thus the study of geography is not 
divorced from that of civilization ; it is a sort of universal mon- 
ument, on which is engraved in all its striking episodes, from the 
age of caverns and lake-dwellings to the hour in which we now 
live, the history of the influences of nature on man, and of the 
conquests of man over nature. It is of this science, thus under- 
stood, that Herder was able to say with exultation, ' Charge 
geography with aridity ! We might as well charge the ocean with 
dryness.' " ^ 

387. Why this Study should Begin early. — As Nicole 



L'Instruction primaire a Vienne, p. 185. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 369 

had already remarked, " Geography is a study very proper 
for childreu ; " Hrst, because it depends greatly upon the 
senses; then, because it is really entertaining; finally, be- 
cause it requires no reasoning, which is well-nigh lacking 
at that age. 

Let us add that other studies cannot dispense with geog- 
raphy. History and geography should go hand in hand. 

On the contrary, it is Mr. Bain's opinion that the study of 
geography should be delayed, on the ground that geographi- 
cal notions involve the faculty of pure conception, — tbat is, 
of the representative imagination, witliout any appeal to 
emotion and sentiment. But, in opposition to Mr. Bain, we 
think that the faculty of concrete conception is l)igbly devel- 
oped in the child, and besides, that it is possible to give a 
living interest to the study of geography. 

388. Two Methods possible. — In history we raised the 
question whether it was best on the start to give the child 
a general view of the course of the centuries, or to proceed 
by partial studies and by periods. Likewise in geography it 
is a question whether it is better at first to give a general 
idea of the whole world, or to concentrate the ]>eginner's 
attention exclusively on the geography of his own country, 
and not undertake the geography of Europe and the globe 
till a later period. 

The reply cannot be doubtful. The point of departure in 
geographical instruction is certainly in the study of local 
geography. Between the ancient system, which first studied 
the globe, which began where we ought to finish, as Pere 
Greard said, and the new method, which starts from the vil- 
lage or the city, where the pupil lives, and extends from 
place to place till it finally embraces the entire earth, there 
can be no hesitation in our choice. 

But, on the other hand, the child must not be kept too long 



370 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

on thes^ preparatory studies. The teaching of geography, — 
that is, a sciuuce whose object is the description of the 
eartli, — would not respond to its definition nor to its purpose, 
if tlie child were not placed as soon as possible in the pres- 
ence of the earth. General geography ought to be united 
and combined with local geog)'ai)hy. All portions of geog- 
raphy are in some sort co-ordinate, while the periods of 
history, to a certain extent, are independent one of another. 
Hence a profound difference in the methods to be followed. 

" After tlie preliminary notions drawn from the child's knowl- 
edge of the department, and before he enters upon a detailed 
study of France, I would have the teacher," says M. Levasseur, an 
authority on this subject, " with globe in hand, give in a few 
hours a general idea of the form of the earth and of its oceans 
and continents. It is important that the child should clearly 
know what place France occupies in Europe, the situation of 
Eui'ope upon the globe, and what the form of the earth is." ^ 

389. National Geography. — The centre of geographical 
instruction in the common school ought to be our own coun- 
try. In French schools, France is tl^e point of departure 
and the goal of the geographical excursion which is pro- 
posed to the child ; but there are rightly added to this 
general notions of the geography of Europe and of other 
parts of the world, just as in history the national history is 
completed by some notions of general history. 

And as in history it is necessary for real mental enlighten- 
ment to compare the present with the past, so in geography 
it is well to institute frequent comparisons between one's own 
country and foreign countries. 

" Tell the pupil that France produces seventeen million tons 
of coal a year, and he yawns and at once forgets the number; 
but tell him that France produces only one-eighth as much coal 

1 As to sequence in the study of geography, see Appendix A 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 371 

as England, and he understands you, and, as a Frenchman, is 
touched to the quick." 

390. The Correct Method. — Then let us follow the 
method which consists in starting from the village school, 
but on the condition that we do not forget to go farther. A 
teacher may halt so long in giving details on the commune 
and the canton that at the end of several months he has not 
gone beyond them. As soon as possible the instruction in 
geography should open vast horizons to the child, and ex- 
tend his vision over the entire world. 

" Certainly," says M. Elisee Reclus, "we must always take as a 
starting-point what the child sees ; but does lie see nothing more 
than the school and liis village? That is the tip of his abode; 
he also sees the infinite heaven, the sun, stars, and moon. He 
sees the storms, the clouds, the rain, the distant horizon, the 
mountains, the hills, the downs or simple undulations, and trees 
and shrubs. Let him attentively notice all the.se things, and let 
them be described to him. Tiiis is the real geography, and to 
learn it the child has not to go beyond the things which surround 
him, and which are exhibited to him in their infinite variety." 

To-day the method of geographical teaching seems to be 
everywhere established in accordance with this spirit. Mr. 
Bain says "that geograpiiy, after arithmetic, is the study 
that is most advanced in respect of method." This method 
may be defined as follows : 

" The teacher will speak to the children principally of the 
things they have seen. After a rain he will show them the 
ravines which the water has worn in the sand of the yard, the 
manner in which this water forms lakes, surrounds islands, de- 
scends slopes in thin streams which finally unite to form large 
brooks farther down, and explain to them how they have before 
their eyes a picture in miniature of rivers and of their affluents. 

"He will make them notice that the sun illumines the school in 



372 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

a different waj'^ morning and evening, and will teach them to 
know the points of the compass and to find their bearings. 

" He will trace for them the plan of the school on the board, and 
accustom them to distiuguish what is at the right from what is 
at the left, what is in front from what is in the rear. He will 
not fear to insist on this process, to measure if need be, in the 
presence of the children and with their aid, the length of the 
walls, the width of the court and the garden, and to record these 
measurements on the board. He will also trace a plan of the 
neighborhood of the school, or even of the village, and will have 
attained his purpose in this respect when his pupils are capable 
of showing upon this plan, with the pointer, the road which must 
be followed to go from the church to their homes." 

391. The Function of Memory. — Formerly geography 
was recited ; to-day it is at the same time told and shown. 
It is told, — that is, the teacher gives an exposition of the 
subject : he gives a lesson in geography as he does in his- 
tory. It is shown, — that is, an incessaHt appeal is made, 
either to the very reality or to a picture of it reproduced by 
maps. 

"With very young children," says M. Levasseur, "the teacher 
will scarcely indicate the relations of cause and effect, which or- 
dinarily surpass the ability of a nascent intelligence ; he will 
rely on descriptions, and he will cause the different conceptions of 
geography to be understood, as much as possible by pictui-es, by 
sensible forms, and whenever possible by the sight of the objects 
themselves and by familiar examples." 

However, there is a part for memory to play ; in all grades 
of geographical study there are things which the child ought 
to be capable of reciting. As the multiplication-table is 
not learned without a mechanical and habitual use of the 
memory, so we cannot dispense with learning by heart the 
names of geographical positions. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 373 

" The teaching of the geographical nomenclature seems to us to 
be one of the three principal points in the study of geography, and 
this nomenclature ought to be learned by heart. We first cause 
the word to be learned, without which the precision of the idea 
would be lost; but let us illustrate this nomenclature by such 
notions as will give to each word a fit idea." ^ 

Of course these words, at the same time that they are 
intrusted to the memory, ought to be localized on the map 
by the imagination of the child. 

392. Maps in General. — Geography has always been 
learned by the aid of maps ; but it is particularly in our 
time that the process of map-making has been perfected and 
really adapted to the needs of the cliild. 

" Means of expression in geography," says M. Buisson, " are be- 
coming perfected so rapidly that before long the entire ancient 
system of cartography will be no more than a dead language." ^ 

Without entering into details which would be appropriate 
in a complete study of the subject, and which will be found 
in special works, let us indicate at least a few essential 
points. 

We must first distinguish ready-made maps which are 
shown to the pupil from those which he is required to pre- 
pare for himself. 

Ready-made maps are either maps in atlas form or wall- 
maps. 

393. Maps in Atlas Form. — These maps are made to 
be seen near at hand and to give detailed information ; but 
there is danger, however, of placing too much upon them, 
and of multiplying the signs so as to prevent a clear and 

1 Article Geographic, in the Dictionnaire de P^dagogie. 

2 L' Instruction primaire a Vienne, p. 186. 



374 PEACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

definite view. The best will be the simplest and the clear- 
est. The most scientific and the most beautiful are not 
always the most useful from an educational point of view. 

The custom has now been introduced of no longer separat- 
ing the map from the text ; but separate atlases should not 
be discarded. 

394. Wall-maps. — Wall-maps are not less necessary 
than maps in atlas form. They are made to be seen at a 
distance, to give contours, broad lines, and general views. 
They are especially designed to call into play the faculties 
of the child, his memory and his reason. It is on the 
smaller maps that he first learns geography ; but it is on 
the wall-map that the pupil is interrogated, and this is wh}' 
certain geographers think that this study-map ought by pref- 
erence to be unlettered. It is with the same intent that on 
German wall-maps the names of rivers and mountains are 
written in very small characters, so that pupils cannot read 
them mechanically and are obliged to recognize them by 
their form and position. 

" Wall-maps," says M. Buisson, " are the most important geo- 
graphical apparatus of the primary school. The Germans have 
seen sooner than we have all the importance which is to be as- 
cribed to them. The great physical maps of the five divisions of 
the world, by Von Sydow, have made an epoch in geographical 
teaching; they have proved that we can place within the range 
of the schools a graphic representation, at once compendious 
enough to be very striking and scientific enough to give of each 
important division an exact, if not complete, idea."^ 

395. Relief Maps. — The services which can be rendered 
by relief maps are universally recognized. " What is done 
on ordinary maps may lie done at least with as much advan- 

1 L' Instruction primaire « Vienne, p. 196. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGKAPHY. 375 

tage on relief maps represeuting the different geograpliicnl 
features, or merely those of such or such a country." ^ 

Of course we must be on our guard against exaggeration 
in such matters. Ingenuity has taken hold of relief maps, 
and has often made of them a fancy article, purely conven- 
tional, a plaything rather than an instrument of study. ^ 

But, with these reservations, it is undeniable that relief 
maps are the best of all for giving the child an exact idea of 
the country, for raising him to the conception of the reality 
of which the map is but a picture.'^ 

396. Maps Drawn by the Pupil. — The first thing to do, 
and it is not without difficulty, is to teach pupils to read the 
map and to find their own place upon it. The official pro- 
gramme recommends that in the elementarj' course there 
be simply given an idea of the mode of representation by 
maps and that the child be drilled in the reading of plans 
and maps ; but for the intermediate and higher courses, it 
demands exercises in map-drawing on the blackljoard and 
on paper, without tracing, and also exercises in map- 
drawing from memory. 

These exercises need no justification. They train the 
pupil's hand, they are a preparation for drawing, and are 
the most direct means of fixing geographical facts in the 
mind. 

"The drawing of maps," says Mr. Bain, "impresses a 
country, just as copying a passage in a book impresses the 
author's language and meaning." 

But care must be taken not to maKe a misuse of exercises 
in map-drawing, the first defect of which, when indiscreetly 

1 Conduite des e'coles chretiennes, p. 59. 

2 The most valuable helps to geography are models, and if these 
could be multiplied in schools the conceptions of the general form of 
countries would be vastly enhanced. (Bain, op. cit., p. 276.) 



376 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

employed, is to take altogether too much time. Specialists 
recommend that there be required only map-drawings but 
slightly complicated and comprised within natural limits ; 
this last recommendation excludes maps which represent 
only an isolated department. 

397. The Globe. — The inventive art of our contempo- 
raries has devised even globes in relief ; liut these attempts 
" seem destined," says M. Buisson, " to give intuitions that 
are grosslj' false," without any advantage to compensate for 
this greater disadvantage. 

It is otherwise with ordinary globes, which render impor- 
tant services to instruction. 

" Besides cosmographic notions, the indispensable complement 
of geography, there is a mass of large comparisons between seas, 
continents, divisions, and configurations of tlie earth's surface, 
which are almost impossible without the frequent use of the 
sphere." ^ 

398. Text-Books. — " Formerly," says M. Buisson, 
" these were the principal means of instruction. Geogra- 
phy was taught from a compendium of a few pages bristling 
with proper names, and calculated to repel the mind the 
most thirsty for knowledge." However, the text-book must 
not be absolutely proscribed ; it is sufficient to reduce the 
importance which it had in the old methods. It is especially 
necessary that it be well written, that the text alwa3's be 
illustrated by a map placed on the opposite page, and if 
need be by illustrations. The Americans have brought into 
fashion, and the French have copied from them, these ele- 
mentary books in which the child finds, along with the defini- 
tion of geographical terms, a gulf, an island, a cape, a 
mountain, at the same time delineated in a picture and rep- 
resented on a small map. 

1 Schrader. 



THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY. 377 

399. The Function of the Teacher. — In geography, as 
in other subjects, the voice of the teacher is the great teach- 
ing instruineut. It impresses on the intelligence of the 
pupil the first decisive impetus ; it illustrates the points 
that are obscure, and gives animation to the instruction. 
But the oral exposition of geographical notions has special 
need of being sustained by a collection of school apparatus, 
by the geographical aids of which we have attempted to give 
an idea. 

400. Critical Observations. — Let us here collect for 
th« teaching of geographv, as we have done for the other 
l)ranches of instruction, some of the critical observations of 
the inspectors-general. 

" Geography is made an exercise of the memory. Instruction 
is given from the book, and not from the map. Geography is 
regarded as hardly more than a knowledge of names. Enough 
geographical sketches are not made on the blackboard. The 
study of geography generally begins too late. Sufficient use is 
not made of the globes which adorn the teacher's room or remain 
covered with dust. Pupils do not know what latitude and longi- 
tude are. Too much stress is put on geographical terms, which, 
uistead of being presented to the child in succession, and to meet 
the wants of each lesson, are taught in a mass before going to 
anything else." 

Finally, geography ought to become more and more a 
knowledge of things, and not, as it former!}' was, a knowl- 
edge of words. It ought to be a prolific mine of positive 
knowledge, which gives the child information, not only on 
the natural features and physical phenomena of his country, 
but also on its industrial resources and its economic phe- 
nomena. Moreover, it will not limit its instruction to the 
sentimental frontiers of France. In a time when the coun- 
try is making great efforts to develop its colonial power and 



378 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

its territories beyond sea, it is right and it is necessary that 
geography should make known to the sons of our working- 
)uen and peasants the physical and economical resources of 
distant countries. By this means there will be developed 
among some of them a taste for travel and colonial enter- 
prises, and our possessions will not remain colonies without 
colonists. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 

401. The Teaching of the Sciences in the Common 
School. — Instiuction iu the sciences has been uoticcably 
enhirged and developed in the programme of our common 
schools. At all times arithmetic has been taught in them, 
and constituted, with reading and writing, the three elements 
of the old instruction ; but to-day the programme comprises, 
besides arithmetic, geometry, and also the ordinary elements 
of the physical and natural sciences. 

402. Importance of Arithmetic. — Belgian teachers 
count no less than twelve distinct results from the teaching 
of arithmetic. Without desiring to adopt an enumeration so 
complicated and so pedantic, we call attention to tlie fact 
that arithmetic, of all the subjects taught in the school, is 
the one that contributes most to the training and develop- 
ment of the faculties of reflection, and particular^ the 
reason. Doubtless grammar, history, and geography, when 
well taught, may co-operate iu this education ; but while 
they call into exercise the reason only occasionally and acci- 
dentally, we may affirm that arithmetic gives it constant 
exercise. 

The abstract sciences in general, proceeding by trains of 

reasoning and rigorous demonstrations, have the farther 

advantage of compelling the mind not to be satisfied with 

mere words. They accustom it to demand perfect clearness, 

absolute precision, logical and concise sequence. 

379 



380 PEACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

" Mathematics . . . has a marked and peculiar method or char- 
acter ; it is by pre-eminence deductive or demonslratire, and exhib- 
its in a nearly perfect form all the machinery belonging to this 
mode of obtaining truth. Laying down a very small number of 
first principles, either self-evident or requiring very little effort to 
prove them, it evolves a vast number of deductive truths and 
applications, by a procedure in the highest degree mathematical 
and systematic. Now, although it is chiefly in the one domain of 
Quantity that this machinery has its fullest scope, yet, as in every 
subject that the mind has to discuss there is a frequent resort to 
the deductive, demonstrative, or downward procedure, as con- 
trasted with the direct appeal to observation, fact, or induction, 
a mathematical training is a fitting equipment for the exercises of 
this function. The rigid definition of all leading terms and no- 
tions ; the explicit statement of all the first principles ; the onward 
march by su.ccessive deductions, each one reposing on ground 
already secured ; no begging of either premises or conclusions ; no 
surreptitious admissions ; no shifting of ground ; no vacillation in 
the meanings of terms ; — all this is implied in the perfect type 
of a deductive science. The pupil should be made to feel that he 
has accepted nothing without a clear and demonstrative reason, 
to the entire exclusion of authority, tradition, prejudice, or self- 
interest." ^ 

Of course it is priucipally au advanced course iu mathe- 
matics which admits of these characteristics and assures 
these advantages to the general training of the mind ; but 
even iu its elemeutary stage the study of the matheuuitics 
will result on the start in imposing on the pupil a great con- 
centration of attention ; for iu mathematical truths there 
is complete interdependence and connection, and a single 
moment of inattention causes the whole fruit of previous toil 
to be lost. Besides, the rigorous character of mathenuitical 
demonstration accustoms the i^upil not to take up with 
words, not to yield except on proof. There is no better 

1 Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 148, 149. 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 381 

school for teaching order, precision, and at the same time 
continuity and rigor in thinking.^ 

403. Practical Utility of Arithmetic. — But without 
speaking longer of the advantages of arithmetical study con- 
sidered as a mental discipline, it is evident that this instruc- 
tion is indispensable b}' reason of its practical utility. To 
know how to compute is l)ut little less necessary than to 
know how to read and write. Even ignorant peasants who 
can do without reading to no great disadvantage, cannot do 
without making simple calculations as to their expenses, the 
wages they ought to receive, the sacks of wheat which they 
have to sell, aud the animals which they tend. Computation 
is of daily and universal use. 

404. The Child's Taste for Numbers. — We miglit 
think that on account of their general character of abstrac- 
tion, exercises in number would not suit the taste of the 
child, fond above all else of sense perceptions. But this is 
not so. 

" In the large number of classes of very different grades which 
it has been our privilege either to inspect or to visit, we have often 
observed tliat arithmetic was one of the things with reference to 
which the child manifested the most vividly that joy in learning 
which comes to him so naturally, when we do not carefully spoil it 
by throwing around him things that are difficult and incoherent." 2 

1 " Numbers," says M. f rieh, " is a positive science, and there are 
no two different ways of conceiving its primal elements. In it every- 
thing is fixed and invariable, so that the wisest mathematician and the 
yomigest pupil of a primary school find the same result by employing 
exactly the same process. What is particularly remarknble in the 
science of numbers is that everything is related and connected with 
a precision that is perfect ; one notion prepares for another, and one 
principle aives rise to another." 

2 Mademoiselle Chalamet, op. cit., p. 165. 



382 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

405. Three Courses in Arithmetic. — In all the grades 
of the commou school the programme requh'es exercises in 
mental and written arithmetic ; but it distributes the matter 
of instruction progressively, reserving theory mainly for the 
higher course. 

In the elementary course the four rules may be applied 
intuitively to numbers that do not exceed 100. So nmch for 
mental arithmetic. The tallies of addition and multiplica- 
tion are studied. For written work pupils are drilled on tlie 
first three rules by the use of whole numbers. Division is 
limited to divisors which contain no more than two figures. 
Simple problems, oral or written, complete the instruction. 

In the intermediate course, after a review, which is par- 
ticularly necessary in arithmetic, in a science where sequence 
is so important, the division of whole numbers is learned ; 
the study of fractions is begun ; the four rules are applied 
to decimal numljers ; and the legal system of weights and 
measures is studied. It is more and more required that the 
problems give rise to rational solutions. 

In the higher course, a new review with more marked 
attention to theories and to the reasoning process, the metric 
system is thoroughly learned. The most difficult parts of the 
arithmetic are taken up, such as prime numbeis, the divisi- 
bility of numbers, prime factors, and the greatest common 
divisor. The methods of reduction to unity, applied to 
the solution of problems in interest, discount, etc., are also 
studied. 

406. General Method. — Intuitive in its early stages, 
and practical at every step in its development, — such ought 
to be the instruction in aritlunetic in the common school. 
The method of study in this science is henceforth fixed, and 
Mr. Bain could say that " tiie method of teaching arithmetic 
is, perhaps, the best understood of any of the methods con- 
cerned with elementary studies." 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 383 

Let us add, that without ceasiug to be practical the method 
in arithmetic should teud to give children a rational knowl- 
edge of the science of computation. It is not enough for 
the child to be mechanically drilled in the operations of 
arithmetic ; it is necessary that he comprehend them, that 
he render to himself an account of them. By this means he 
will not only compute better and more surely, but his mind 
will at the same time be strengthened and refined. " Par- 
ticularly in arithmetic, to comprehend is to apprehend." 

The first requirement is that the child gain an exact idea of 
number, — an idea which is complete only when it contains 
the ideas of augmentation and diminution, of addition and 
subtraction. 

407. Material Aids. — As a means of making a begin- 
ning in numeration, educators recommend tlie use of small 
pieces of wood. As a matter of fact, all concrete objects 
are adapted to this purpose, :ind the choice is unimportant. 
The essential thing is, not to plunge the child all at once into 
the study of abstract numbers, l)ut to resort at first to in- 
tuition, to intuitive computation ; and for this puri>ose real 
objects should be employed, placed in the hands of the 
child, or points and lines draAvn on the blackboard and pre- 
sented to the pupil's eye. 

" Much is involved in the first attempts to work upon number. 
The distinction between one number and another is shown to the 
eye l)y concrete groups of various things, the identity of number 
appearing under disparity of materials and of grouping. Ideas 
are thus acquired of unity, of two, three, etc., up to ten in a row. 
... At Hhe outset small tangible objects are used, — balls, pebbles, 
coins, apples ; then larger objects, as chairs and pictures on a wall. 
Finally dots or short lines, or some other plain marks, are the 
representative examples to be deposited in the mind as the near- 
est approach to the abstract idea." ^ 

1 Bain, op. cit., p. 288. 



384 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

408. Transition from the Concrete to the Abstract. — 
M. Horuer very clearly states the process to be followed 
for gradually withdrawing the mind from the consideration 
of concrete objects and leading it to the abstract notion. It 
is first necessary, he says, to show the child material objects, 
or at least strokes drawn on the board, representing numbers 
and their combinations. Then, when the child has gained 
sufficient skill to work with objects, we must conceal these 
objects from his sight and employ concrete numbers, as 8 
nuts, 6 tables, 8 chairs, etc. A new step has now been 
taken, and after these concrete numbers have been used for 
some time, the final step in the series must be taken, — we 
must divest the number of its sensible garment and employ 
abstract numbers. 

409. Numeral Frames. — Instead of employing the first 
objects at hand, we may resort to apparatus, especially to 
numeral frames, which are machines designed to facilitate 
the early steps in numeration. 

This device is no doubt serviceable at the beginning of 
instruction in number ; but we must guard against the abuse 
of these material means of numerical intuition, lest they go 
counter to the end we are pursuing. 

The numeral frame has been severely criticised. 

"This instrmnent," says M. Eugene Rambert, "corrupts instruc- 
tion in arithmetic. Thje principal utility of this instruction is to 
call into early exercise the child's faculties of abstraction, — to 
teach him to see with the head, through the eyes of the mind. 
To place things before the bodily eyes is to go directly counter to 
the spirit of this instruction. Nature has given children their ten 
fingers for a numeral frame ; and instead of giving them another, 
they should be taught to do without the first as soon as possible. 
It is said that this device makes the teacher's explanations much 
easier. I have no doubt of this. By means of the numeral frame 
the child soon makes out that 10 and 10 are 20 ; but the child who 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 386 

counts only in this way loses his time, while the one who has 
counted in his head has engaged in the most useful of exercises. 
There is needed a complement and corrective for instruction 
through the sense of sight, and it is most readily found in com- 
putation." 1 

There is some exaggeration in this sentiment, and it would 
apply more justly to counting-machines. Most teachers 
recommend the numeral frame for the maternal school, and 
express the wish that it may be introduced into the common 
school, at least for the elementary course. It must be intel- 
ligently used, however, so as to facilitate the pupil's labor 
without suppressing it.^ 

410. Counting-machines. — The tilings to be condemned 
without hesitation are arithmometers, or counting-machines, 
very complicated pieces of mechanism, real mills, which fur- 
nish the result of proposed operations and relieve the pupil 
of labor. 

The use of apparatus, whatever it may be, ought not to 
make us forget the necessity of mental calculation. 

411. Mental Arithmetic. — Educational opinion is defi- 
nitely settled as to the value and necessity of mental arith- 
metic, — that is, of computation made in the mind, without 
resorting to written numbers. 

First, mental arithmetic is an excellent mental gymnastic, 
because it compels the attention to fall back upon itself, to 
occupy itself with what is within, without the aid of any 
material instrument. 

Moreover, mental arithmetic responds to the necessities of 

1 Quoted by M. Buisson, L' Instruction primaire a Vienne, p. 212. 

2 The numeral frame has been in use since 1812. It is said that it 
came from Russia, and that Russia herself borrowed it from China. 



386 PliAUTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

daily life. How many times do we need to solve with rapid- 
ity little problems of domestic economy which demand but a 
moment's reflection ! The merchant and the housewife have 
not the time to resort to written calculation ; they have not 
always at hand pen, paper, and ink. They need to find an 
immediate solution. 

Finally, mental arithmetic is a preparation for written 
arithmetic. At first mental computation will be required, 
especially of beginners ; but during the whole length of the 
course in arithmetic, mental work will accompany written 
work. 

"Mental computation," says M. Rendu, "is to the mind what 
gymnastic exercises are to the body. ... It has its processes, its 
methodical and progressive procedure, its great variety of exer- 
cises, its numerous applications. Like all other lessons, it de- 
mands a thorough preparation." 

Certain English teachers are accustomed to use the term 
economic arithmetic to describe the arithmetic proper for 
the primary school. 

" The purpose of teaching arithmetic in elementary schools, 
apart from its influence as a discipline, is attained when such a 
command has been given over numbers as enables a young man 
or woman to calculate with facility all those questions which 
arise in the ordinary course of life. This may be called economic 
arithmetic." ^ 

412. Choice of Problems. — The subject of the prob- 
lems ought to ])e l)orrowed from the ordinary circumstances 
of life, from the facts of rural or industrial economy. The 
choice ought to vary with the conditions of the child's life ; 
it will be one thing in the city and another in the country. 

1 Laurie, Primary Instruction, p. 107. 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 387 

"There is an important principle of economy in education," 
say« Mr. Bain, " that applies to arithmetic, but not to it alone ; 
that is, the utilizing of the questions or exercises, by making them 
the medium of useful information. Instead of giving unmeaning 
numbers to add, subtract, multiply, and so on, we might, after the 
more preliminary instances, make every question contain some 
important numerical data relating to the facts of nature or the 
conventional usages of life, anticipating, as far as may be, the 
future exigencies of the pupils in their station in life. . . . For 
example, the leading dates in chronology might be embodied in a 
variety of questions." ^ 

413. The Function of Memory. — Mr. Spencer some- 
where says that the multiplication table is now often learned 
by the experimental method. We confess that we do not 
quite understand the thought of the English educator. Mr. 
Bain is very much nearer the truth when he says : 

" The memory has to receive with firmness and precision all that 
is included in the addition and nmltiplication tables ; and the test 
of aptitude for the subject is the readiness to come imder this 
discipline. It is a kind of memory that in all probability depends 
on a certain maturity or advancement of the brain ; so that no 
amount of concrete illustration will force it on before its time. 
.... The multiplication table is a grand effort of the special 
memory for symbols and their combinations, and the labor is not 
to be extenuated in any way. The associations must be formed 
so as to operate automatically, — that is, without thinking, inquir- 
ing, or reasoning; and for this we must trust to the unaided 
adhesiveness due to mechanical iteration." ^ 

414. The Metric System. — The study of the metric sys- 
tem is connected with that of arithmetic proper. Here again 
it is important to show to children the objects themselves, 
the metre, the litre, etc. It would amount to nothing to 



1 Bain, op. cit, p. 292. 

2 Baui, op. cit., pp. 289, 290. 



388 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

learn by heart the abstract words whose meaning has not 
been clearly fixed in the mind by the concrete realities. 

" Do you speak of the metre ? Cause the pupil to measure the 
length of the school-room, of the l)enches, the board, the pupil's 
desk. The decimetres, the centimetres, the millimetres will 
naturally present themselves ; and if the children cany a stick of 
the length of a metre, they will ask to have the .subdivisions 
marked upon it." 

"Instruction through the sense of sight," says M. Buisson, 
" is applied naturally and without any difficulty to the metric 
system." 

It has been justly observed that the tables of the metric 
system will not suffice. Each school should have in addi- 
tion a collection of real weights and measures, which the 
child can see and handle. 

415. Results of Instruction in Arithmetic. — Here are 
some of the faults reported by the inspectors in the lessons 
in number : 

" A more frequent use of mental calculation should be required. 
— There are too many theoretical demonstrations. — The jiupils 
who have the best knowledge of the metric system are greatly 
embarrassed when they handle the metre or the balance. — Most 
teachers forget that primary instruction ought to be eminently 
practical. — The work is too abstract and too mechanical. Memory 
plays the principal part, and the reasoning process is wanting. — 
The pupil counts tolerably well, but he is usually unable to explain 
what he has done, for the vei'v simple reason that he has not been 
accustomed to reason. The intuitive method is mainly followed 
with the youngest children ; but the moment the pupils know how 
to apply the four fundamental processes, all trace of the method 
disappears. Theoretical questions ai'e put aside, and books of 
problems replace the teacher's instruction. Mental calculation is 
taught without method, and when we interrogate the pupil he 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 389 

seems to employ the same processes as though he had a pen or 
pencil at liis disposal. The study of number is too often reduced 
to an exercise of memory, and children do not acquire the art of 
reckoning in the mind, so useful as a mental gymnastic, and so in- 
dispensable to those who must do without pen and paper for 
making their computations. The elements of arithmetic are not 
made sensible enough. The meclianism of the operations is 
learned; but pupils do not comprehend clearly enough what they 
do and why they do it. Too many teachers are still fond of 
abstractions. They cannot make up their minds to teach number 
by means of the numeral frame, pebbles, and sticks; but they 
always begin by having the numbers written before the children 
have an exact idea of quantity. The metric system is taught, but 
no one has seen a metre." 

The same reports state some instances of progress in the 
teaching of arithmetic. 

" Arithmetic is of all the subjects the one which gives the best 
results. In most schools the computation is done well enough 
and quickly enough with the pen or pencil in hand ; but pupils are 
not sufficiently accustomed to mental work. Calculation is taught 
from the first entrance at school, at first mentally and orally, then 
with written numbers. Teachers ai-e rarely found who limit 
themselves to mechanical operations upon abstract numbers. The 
problems are practical and well chosen. The instruction in 
arithmetic is rational ; the demonstration is always made at the 
blackboard, and the definitions serve only to sum up and fix the 
reasoning processes." 

416. Geometry in the Common School. — In the pro- 
gramme of 1882 geometry appeared for the first time as a 
topic of obligatory instruction in the common school. It 
surely cannot be intended to push very far the study of a sci- 
ence which comprises parts of such superiority and difficulty. 
It is intended simply to borrow from it some notions which 
are the natural complement and sometimes the auxiliaries of 
arithmetic. 



390 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

Moreover, it is not without protest that the innovation has 
been sanctioned by our school legislation. Swiss teachers 
formally declare that ' ' geometry proper shoukl not have a 
place in the programme of a common school." 

But geometrv proper is not under discussion ; only the 
elements and applications of this science. 

417. Purpose of Instruction in Geometry. — In the 
common school, in the three courses, the purpose of instruc- 
tion in geometry should l)e exclusively practical. The aim 
is to make the following items of knowledge available : 1 . A 
comprehension of the metric system ; 2. The measurement 
of surfaces and volumes required by the needs of life ; 3. A 
knowledge of the simplest operations of surveying and lev- 
eling. 

418. Method to be Pursued. — For geometry, as for 
the other sciences, there is a necessary initiation, an intuitive 
preparation. It is especially in the infant school that it is 
expedient to communicate the primary notions of geometry 
in a concrete form. The official programme recommends, 
for the infant class, a selection from Froebel's "occupa- 
tions," shunning technical terms, definitions, and excess of 
detail in the analysis of geometrical forms. 

What must be avoided above all things, at the beginning, 
is the abuse of technical terms and abstract definitions, 
which the child repeats like a parrot, without understanding 
them. M. Leyssenne advises that with little children we 
wholly renounce tiie use of the terms sphere, circle, etc., and 
that we speak to them only ^>f balls and round bodies. 
Without going to this extreme, for it seems to us necessary 
to accustom the child as soon as possible to the special 
vocabulai-y of each scieuce, we think that at least the tech- 
nical term should be used only in tlie presence of a material 
object which may furnish the mind with a sensible represen- 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 391 

tation of it. Do not begin by showing to the child ideal 
forms drawn on the blackboard. Show him real things, 
figures and solids, whose parts and properties he must be 
made to observe. 

Says M. Leyssenne : " We should take solids in wood, clay, or 
card-board, and place them in the children's hands ; then, when 
they have thoroughly seen them, touched them, and turned them 
in all directions, they should be told that this is a line, this an 
angle, this a square, this a circle, etc. ; and finally, they nmst draw 
that line, angle, square, and circle, upon the board. " 

419. Elementary Course. — In the elementary course 
hardly more will be done than to continue these exercises 
which are the alphabet of geometry, and teach the child to 
um'avel that science. To these there will be added exer- 
cises in the measurement and comparison of magnitudes by 
simple judgments of the eye ; the child will be taught to 
estimate distances approximately ; and these will be ex- 
pressed in terms of the metric system. The difficulty in 
making these estimates will be seen when they depend on 
the senses alone. 

" A stock of geometrical conceptions having been obtained," 
says Mr. Spencer, " a further step may in course of time be taken 
by introducing the practice of testing the correctness of all figures 
drawn by the eye. . . There can be little doubt that geometry 
had its origin in the methods discovered by artisans and others, of 
making accurate measui'ement for the foundations of buildings, 
areas of inclosures, and the like. . . Geometrical truths should 
be introduced to the pupil under analogous circumstances. In the 
cutting out of pieces for his card-houses, in the drawing of orna- 
mental diagrams for coloring, and in those various instructive oc- 
cupations which an inventive teacher will lead him into, he may 
be for a length of time advantageously left, like the primitive 
builder, to tentative processes ; and he will so gain an abundant 



392 PKACTIGAL PEDAGOGY. 

experience of the difficulty of achieving his aims by tlie unaided 
senses.! 

In the intermediate and higher course the instruction in 
geometr}' ought to be more exact, more didactic. Intuitive 
methods should give place to processes purely abstract, in 
which reasoning should play the important part. 

420. Intuitive Geometry. — There is now such a craze 
for intuitive processes that the attempt has been made to 
apply them, not only to the elements of geometry, when they 
are in place, but to the whole subject. This is the system 
known as tachymetry^ or rapid measurement, a sort of intui- 
tive geometry. 

This system may be illustrated as follows : By means of 
contrivances made of card-board or of wood, there is made 
an actual decomposition of the different volumes which are to 
be estimated ; then the parts so decomposed are grouped in 
different ways, so that the theorem, which would otherwise 
be demonstrated Mi abstracto by a long train of reasoning, is 
made intuitive and tangible. This method of physical and 
concrete demonstration is applied even to the measurement 
of the circle and the sphere, even to the properties of the 
square of the hypotheuuse and of similar triangles. In a 
word, tachymetry is materialized geometry. 

" The aim of tachymetry, " says one writer, " is eminently prac- 
tical, — to teach the farmer to compute how many hectolitres of 
wheat there are in a pile of wheat in his barn ; the road-master how 
many cubic metres, decimetres, and centimetres in a heap of 
stones ; the civil engineer how to proceed in forming an estimate 
of the work he is to perform." ^ 

1 Spencer, op. cit, p. 148. 

2 This empirical geometry is all very well for such cases as those 
mentioned above ; but it should be recollected that no system of mere 
measurements can ever prove that the sum of the three angles of a 
triangle is equal to two right angles. (P.) , 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 393 

421. Are there Object-lessons in Arithmetic and Ge- 
ometry ? — We do not think that there can be real object- 
lessons either in arithmetic or in geometry. We should note 
the fact that when we give the child sticks in order to teach 
him to count or solids in order to teach him to estimttte 
dimensions, it is not the things themselves, the sticks or the 
solids, that we wish him to study ; but we place these 
objects before his eyes or in his hands, in order that he may 
as soon as possible disengage, from these concrete realities 
the abstract idea of numbers, the abstract idea of geomet- 
rical forms. 

422. The Physical and Natural Sciences. — In inti'o- 
ducing the physical and the natural sciences into the common 
school, the purpose has been both to give the child a certain 
amount of positive knowledge, of an infinite value for practi- 
cal life, and to teach him the ha])it of observation. While 
the mathematical sciences are especially valuable for devel- 
oping inward attention and power of reasoning, the natural 
and the physical sciences call the senses into play and teach 
the habit of seeing, and of seeing completely. Now, as 
some one has said, " the spirit of observation is the best of 
professors." The child who is endowed with it learns for 
himself a multitude of things which forever escape minds 
that are indifferent and incapable of observing. 

Every specialist is disposed to exaggerate the importance 
of the specialty which he teaches. We are not astonished, 
then, that Paul Bert attributes to the physical and natural 
sciences a part absolutely preponderant in primary instruc- 
tion. But we must allow that no study is better adapted 
for teaching to see accurately, to take nothing on authority, 
and to divest the mind of superstitions and prejudices. 

423. Programmes and Methods. — The French official 
programme purposely insists on the very elementary char- 



394 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

acter of the instruction given in the physical and natural 
sciences in the common school. 

It recommends object-lessons for the first course, — les- 
sons, moreover, graduated according to a regular plan, 
bearing on man, animals, vegetables, minerals. These 
objects will be shown to children, and the teacher will add 
to these some simple and familiar explanations. 

Physics appears only with the intermediate courses, and 
provides for only summary notions on the three states of 
matter, upon air, water, and coml)ustion. Simple experi- 
mental demonstration will complete the lesson. On the 
other hand, in the intermediate course, didactic lessons will 
be given on man, animals, and vegetables. It is evident 
that this course ought to be as descriptive as possible. 

Chemistry is introduced in the higher course under this 
description : The notion of simple bodies^ compound bodies, 
metals^ and common salts. 

Physics is studied in its essential laws, — weight, heat, 
light, electricity, etc. Instruments are described and ex- 
plained. 

Finally, in this same course, mineralogy is in turn added 
to the two other natural sciences, botany and zoology, the 
study of which is continued. At the same time that human 
physiology is taught, the principal functions of the human 
body are explained. 

424. Necessity of a Book. — The physical and natural 
sciences cannot be taught without apparatus, iustrumeuts, 
and museums. 

Now it nmst not be forgotten that for the most part the 
common scliools are destitute of scientific instruments and 
natural history collections. The book is then indispensable, 
a book that is well written, which requires but inexpensive 
experiments, — an elementary book, and not merely an 
abridgment. 



THE TEACHING OF THE SCIENCES. 395 

" To select in each science, " says Paul Bert, " the dominant, 
fundamental facts ; to set them forth with sufficient details to 
make them clearly apparent to the child's mind and to fix them 
firmly in his memory ; to neglect facts of secondary importance ; 
— such are the general rules that should be followed. " 

425. Practical Character of this Instruction. — In 
the teaching of the physical and natural sciences, particular 
care should be taken to avoid all fine-spun theories, and 
everything which cannot be made really intelligible to the 
child. Special attention will also be given to the practical 
application wliich may be made of the different parts of 
these sciences. The official programme enjoins this course 
upon teachers when it requires them to dwell upon " the 
transformation of crude material into the manufactured 
articles of every-day use," and again when it offers prac- 
tical suggestions on hygiene and upon the effects of tobacco 
and alcohol. 

Doubtless the first result of scientific instruction is mental 
development. These studies open the intelligence, extend 
the intellectual horizon, and train men. 

" A training in the natural sciences must be raised to the dignity 
of a regular educational appliance ; and for this purpose the quan- 
tity must be reduced; but what is learned must be perfectly assim- 
ilated, and must be iised, not to increase the volume of what is 
known, but to establish habits of attentive observation, of exact 
analysis, and of a fruitful and well-regulated curiosity. " 

But the material results of this instruction are no less 
valuable. The sciences of nature appear to us particularly 
useful and commendable, because they are a necessary intro- 
duction to professional instruction, and are a preparation 
for the arts and the trades. 

426. Scientific Excursions. — Nothing is more helpful 



396 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to the teaching of the physical and natural sciences than 
scientific excursions, whether tiiey t>e directed to the fields, 
woods, and farms, or to some shop or manufactory. But it 
must not be forgotten that these excursions ought to preserve 
their character of recreation and diversion. The instruction 
that is given in them should take place in the presence of 
pupils in the form of familiar conversations, and the in- 
structor should not carry outside of the class-room the 
habits and the didactic method of the school. 



CHAPTER VIIL 

MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 

- 427. Moral Education and the Teaching of Morals. 
— In 1881 some of the inspectors-general complained that 
" at present moral education is not included in the pro- 
gramme of common-school instruction." It will never be 
included in it ; for though it is the principal and the essen- 
tial purpose of instruction, it is not a part of the programme. 
Moral education is a general and delicate subject which can- 
not be imprisoned within the limits of a regular course of 
technical instruction. It is otherwise with morals itself, 
which ought to be separately taught as a science, and the 
highest of all the sciences. Doubtless a course in morals, 
however well it ma}' be taught, will not suffice to make a 
good man ; but it will aid in doing this, and it is with reason 
that the legislation of 1882, in imitation of what was done 
abroad, gave to morals a place in the programme of the 
common schools. 

428. Morals mat be Taught in every School Exer- 
cise. — Instead of being the definite object of a regular 
course, taught at certain hours, the teaching of morals ought 
to be the constant care of the teacher and the natural result 
of all the exercises of the school. 

Says M. Janet : " There is a capital mode of moral instruction 
which pervades the whole course of teaching, all the studies of the 
child, and even all the acts of his life. We may teach morals 
through reading, writing, grammar, history, and even through the 

397 



398 PRACTICAL TEDAGOGY. 

sciences. Children will be taught to read in good books contain- 
ing short moral lessons; they will be made to write, as models, 
maxims and sentences which will remain in their memory ; 
dictation exercises may be given them borrowed from the records 
of the moralists ; and history at each step is a school of morals. 
Even arithmetic may be used for this purpose ; for from the rule 
of interest, for example, this practical inference may be drawn, 
that no debts should be contracted, or if they are they must be 
paid. There is a lesson in morals in the acts of the child at all 
hours of the day, even in his sports and recreations. At each 
moment the instructor is obliged to teach neatness, politeness, 
obedience, industry, and the spirit of peace and concord. From 
this first point of view the school as a whole is in itself a school of 
moral instruction." 

429. The Special Teaching of Morals. — But outside 
of this diffused and almost unconscious teaching of morals, 
which results from all the exercises of the school, there 
ought to be a regular course of instruction in morals, very 
simple, of course, and very modest, but distinct from all 
the others. Morals is a science which may and should be 
taught on its own account, in the common school as every- 
where else. It is only by this means that there will be a 
cure for what is irregular, indefinite, and insufficient in 
moral education, when it is supported merely on indirect 
lessons and a disconnected instruction. 

On this question there may be differences of opinion 
among men of good judgment. M. Buisson, in his Raj)port 
sur r exposition de Philadelphie, declared that morals differs 
from the other topics of the programme in the fact that it 
cannot have a fixed time in the scheme of daily exercises. 
The official programmes of 1881 have, as it seems to us, 
rightly come to a different conclusion, for they say ex- 
pressly : 

" There shall be each day, in the two lower grades, at least one 
lesson which, in the form of a fainilar conversation or by means of 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 399 

appropriate reading lessons, shall l)e devoted to moral instruction ; 
in the higher grade this lesson shall be, as far as possible, the 
methodical development of a systematic course in morals." 

430. Topics of Moral Instruction. — The object of 
instruction in morals in the common school is the practical 
knowledge of duties much more than the theoreticnl expres- 
sion of moral principles. Tt is of less importance to have 
the child reason as a philosopher on the nature of his 
actions, than to prepare him to fulfil as an uprigiit man all 
the obligations of life. 

" It should be the duty of all teachers," says M. Janet, " to in- 
struct their pupils during the whole school course in their duties 
towards their family, their country, their fellows, themselves, and 
God." 

Learned discussions on good and evil, on tlie character of 
the moral law, on the principle of moral obligation, ought to 
be nearly proscribed in elementary instruction in morals. 
These things are proper in a college course, but it would be 
useless to require them of children in the common school, 
whose minds are insufficiently prepared for such studies. 

431. Scope and Limits of this Instruction. — The 
teaching of morals in the common school ought not to be 
connected with any religious doctrine. Universal and com- 
mon to all children, to whatever confession they may belong, 
it speaks but the language of reason and common sense ; it 
remains human, and does not encroach on the peculiar 
beliefs of any religious body. 

" Lay instruction in morals is distinguished from religious in- 
struction without contradicting it. The instructor substitutes 
himself neither for the priest nor for the head of the family; he 
unites his efforts with theirs in order to make of each child an 
honest man. He ought to insist on the duties which bring men 



400 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY, 

togetlier, and not on the dogmas which divide them. Every theo- 
logical and philosophical discnssion is manifestly forliidden liim 
by the very character of his functions, by the age of his pupils, 
and by the confidence of families and of the state ; he concen- 
trates all his energies on a problem of another nature, but not 
less arduous, for the very reason that it is exclusivelv' practical ; 
and this is to make all children serve an actual apprenticeship in 
right-living. 

" Later, when tliey have become citizens, they will perhaps be 
separated by dogmatic opinions, but at least they will be in prac- 
tical accord in placing the aim of life as high as possible ; in 
having the same horror of whatever is low and vile, the same 
admiration for w^hatever is noble and generous, the same delicacy 
in the appreciation of duties ; in aspiring after moral perfection, 
whatever efforts it may cost ; and in feeling themselves united in 
the general homage of the true, the beautiful, and the good, which 
is also a form, and none the less pixre, of the religious feeling." ^ 

432. Division of the Couksks. — In the teaching of 
morals, more perhaps than in any other subject, it is neces- 
sary to follow a progressive plan, to proceed at first by ex- 
amples, by familiar talks, to rise little by little to abstract 
laws and to general rules. 

It is in accordance with these principles that the official 
programme has organized the different courses in the com- 
mon school. 

In the infant class the instruction comprises only simple 
talks mingled with the various exercises of the school, short 
poems learned by heart, and stories told by the teachers. 

In the three grades of the common school, the programme 
regulates the succession of topics as follows : 

Elementary Course. — Familiar conversations; readings with 
explanations, narratives, examples, precepts ; learning by heart. 
Intermediate Course. — Readings with explanations as before 

'■ Programme of 1882, Education morale. 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 401 

(narratives, examples, precepts), but co-ordinated and graduated 
according to a methodical plan. 

Higher Couuse. — Short graduated lessons in moral instruc- 
tion, illustrated by examples in accordance with the programme. 

It is then only in the highei- course that the instruction 
will assume a didactic, doctrinal form, and that the teacher 
will give formal lessons. 

133. The Inductive and Deductive Method. — In 
whatever waj' we may teach morals, the method followed is 
always either inductive or deductive. 

We may start from an example, from a fact furnished by 
history, from a fiction invented by the teacher's imagintition, 
from an experience of the child, from an incident which has 
occurred in the class, in the school, or in the village, and 
then lead the pupil to discover the moral truth concealed 
behind this particular event. This is to proceed induc- 
tively. 

Or we may lay down a moral rule, the definition of a virtue 
or a precept of conduct, and after having explained it 
in itself, we may help the pupil to find practical applications 
of this general rule. In other terms, we may proceed de- 
ductively. 

" At one time," says M. Janet, " maxims will be regarded as the 
consequence of a story or a fable ; and at another they will be pre- 
sented as principles, and the story or the fable will become the 
proof or the application of the maxim." 

434. Proper Characteristics of Instruction in Morals. 
— The clearness, logic, and intellectual qualities which may 
assure the efficiency of every other topic, will no'i suffice in 
the teaching of morals. In this case the teacher is an edu- 
cator rather thnu a professor. Hp does not address hmiself 
alone to the mind, — he must touch the heart, penetrate the 



402 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

conscience, and insinuate himself into the depths of the soul. 
He has need of gravity, and also of fervor and communi- 
cative emotion ; he himself ought to feel vividly the moral 
trutlis which he communicates to others. 

" In order that moral culture may be possible and effective, it is 
an indispensable condition that this instruction touch the soul 
to the quick ; that it shall be confounded witli an ordinary lesson 
neither in tone, character, nor form. It is not sufficient to give 
the pupil correct notions and store his memory with wise maxims ; 
but we must succeed in developing within him emotions so true 
and so strong as to aid him in the day of trial in triumphing over 
passions and vices. It is reqiiii'ed of the teacher, not to adorn the 
memory of the child, but to touch his heart and to make him feel, 
by a direct experience, the majesty of the moral law. This is 
equivalent to saying that the means to be employed cannot be like 
those which are proper in a lesson in science or grammar. They 
ought to be not only more versatile and varied, but more intimate, 
more aifecting, more practical, of a character less didactic on the 
whole, but more serious." 

435. Teaching through thk Heart. — We have been 
sharply criticised for having said, in our Elements d'instrvc- 
tion cinque et morale, that " the practice of morals is l)ased 
on the sensibilities." But yet this is the simple truth. Feel- 
ing, whether it be the feeling of affection for one's family, 
one's companion, one's fellow-citizen, or even religious sen- 
timent, that noble emotion of the soul for the good, — these 
are the most fruitful sources of virtue. On this point edu- 
cators are unanimous. 

" With the child," says M. Marion, " the heart anticipates the 
head, and it is rather through the heart than through the reason 
that we have our hold on him. It is then to the heart that we 
must first address ourselves. The sensibilities of the child are 
already very active at a time when Ids intelligence is yet scarcely 
awakened. It would then be a waste of time to teach him general 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 403 

precepts, but to the same degree it would be a useful undertaking 
to devote our energies to touching his heart, to giving him a love 
and, so to speak, an agitation for the good, a longing for what 
is better." 

" From the hearthstone of the tender and generous emotions," 
says Madame de Saussure, " there radiates over the intelligence a 
kind of animation, that gentle ardor with which it is intimately 
penetrated. . . . The feelings are not only necessary to the mind 
as a complement to its knowledge, but they decide its very char- 
acter, its nature, and the mode of its action." ^ 

436. Education through Reflection. — Convinced as 
we are of the prerogatives of the heart and the emotions in 
the matter of moral culture, we have not the least thought 
of depreciating the influence of the intelligence itself in 
moral education. Virtue is an affair of judgment as well as 
of feeling. We must first know where duty lies. To know 
accurately in what it consists, what reasons constrain us to 
follow it, what consequences will result from it, is not with- 
out use in deciding us to fulfil it. 

The teacher will then appeal to the child's judgment and 
reflection. "In the intermediate course," says M.Janet, 
"we ought to address ourselves to the reflection, if not 
more, at least as much, as to the feelings." 

"The instructor," says M. Marion, "ought to give the child 
general modes of thinking, general rules for forming sound judg- 
ments, and a larger sense of his own responsibility. If we would 
have the child accustom himself to do nothing without asking 
himself what is good or bad in the given case, we nmst evidently 
furnish him with general precepts as to good and evil, and give 
him true moral instruction.'"^ 

437. Education through Practice. — When we have 
assigned the mind and the heart their respective parts in the 

1 L' Education progressive, I , p. 217. 

2 Marion, op. cit., p. 392. 



404 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

teaching of morals, wc must hasten to recognize the function 
of habit and will. It is of pre-eminent importance that h\ 
his vigilant endeavor the teacher assure to every moment of 
school life the accomplishment of acts in conformity with 
the moral law. The intelligent application of school disci- 
pline will furnish him the means for doing this. He will 
allow liberty of thought and action, but will indicate to his 
pupils their errors or their mistakes. He will teach them a 
horror for tale-bearing, dissimulation, and hypocrisy. He 
will place above everything else frankness and uprightness, 
and for tliis purpose he will never discourage the frank 
speech of children, their objections or their questions. 

" The teacher ought to give the child habits. ... At the age 
of seven the child has not yet all the good habits which he ought 
to have, and even those which he has are not as strong as they 
ought to become. We must continue to train him to what is good 
by inspiring him without his knowledge, so to speak, with correct 
modes of acting and feeling. General precepts would be useless 
at that age ; they are repulsive and dry because they are abstract 
and remain without effect. Let us recall the remark of Herbert 
Spencer, " that it is not only with children, but with all inatten- 
tive and slightly cultured minds, that admonitions fail of their 
purpose." 

" We do not teach a child morals in order that he may know 
but in order that he may do. In the ordinary sense of the terin. 
it is not a question of teaching but of inculcating, which is an en- 
tirely different thing. In introducing morals into the programme 
of the common schools, it was not intended to introduce a new 
branch of instruction analogous to the others, new lessons parallel 
with the other lessons ; but it is tlie education of the heart and of 
the cliaracter that it is proposed to assure and direct in tlie best 
manner possible." 

438. Practical Exercises. — This necessity of appealing 
to the moral habits is so evident that the authors of the 
official programme have taken special pains to recommen*,' 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 405 

practical exercises which tend to embody moral principles in 
action, both within the school and outside the school. An 
attentive supervision is thus imposed on teachers.^ 

These practical exercises ought first to take account of 
individual characteristics. The teacher ouglit to know the 
peculiar disposition of each pupil for the purpose of inter- 
vening to correct their faults and to call into play their good 
qualities. To a far higher degree than intellectual educa- 
tion, moral education requires the particular, personal care 
which aims at eacli natural bent of the child. 

The teacher must also endeavor to correct the bad habits, 
the prejudices, and the superstitions which the child brings 
from the family into the school, upon which he has been 
nourished from infancy, and which the influences of the 
environment in which he lives continue to perpetuate in him. 

" The cliild does not reach the age of seven absolutely inexperi- 
enced and morally unaffected. A sort of moral perversion has 
already begun in him through default of proper care, and the 
teacher who receives him into school ought not only to do what 
has not been done, but more often to undo what alone has been 
done." 

439. The Example op a Teacher. — But it is not alone 
the child with his habits already formed, with his prejudices 
contracted from birth, that must be supervised in his acts 
and trained to think better and to do better ; but, above all, 
the teacher ought to supervise himself. 

"In order that the pupil may be penetrated with that respect 
for the moral law which is a complete education in itself, the first 

1 "In some schools the chikh'en are polite and respectful to every- 
body, and they are early inspired with the sentiment of duty ; but this 
is far from being true in most schools. Teachers do not supervise 
their pupils enough outside of school ; they do not apply themselves 
sufficiently to training the hearts of children, and too often forget that 
instruction is nothing without cducaUoii." 



406 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

thing necessary is that by his character, his conduct, and his 
language, the teacher himself should be the most persuasive of 
examples. In this order of instruction, what does not come from 
the heart does not go to the heart. The teacher who recites 
precepts and speaks of duty without conviction and emotion, does 
much worse than lose his effort ; he is guilty of a fault." 

It is not only when he speaks of morals, it is always and 
everywhere that the teacher ought to present himself to the 
child as a living example of uprightness and honesty. A 
real model acting before the eyes of the child will always 
be more efficient than the models borrowed from history 
or fiction. 

440. Incidental Marks. — It is doubtless necessary in 
the teaching of morals not so much to preach as to do ; but 
yet exhortations made with gravity are not without their 
value. 

M. Pecaut wisely recommends the managers of schools to 
call together, at least each week, the pupils of the lower 
classes for the purpose of conversing with them for half an 
hour. 

" Let them then enter into more direct communication with 
them ; let them pass in review the history of the past week, doing 
justice to all; and let them point out, along with the faults and 
shortcomings, the honest efforts and good results. Let them re- 
serve for this conference some interesting article, adapted to raise 
the children above the ordinary level of their studies, and to inspire 
them with a taste to read for themselves some good books from 
the school library. For this purpose let them give their pinpils 
discreet advice as to their ordinary life, their family duties, and 
books that are to be avoided. Such conversations well ]irepared, 
serious without stiffness, in which a skillful manager would never 
fail to associate his subordinates, might be made the principal 
educative lesson, a cordial, interesting, and undogmatic moral 
lesson. The child would leave the school better prepared to profit 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 407 

by the good influences of the family, and better armed against the 
bad examples and the unwholesome excitements of the street." 

441. Reading. — It is particularly by reading that good 
moral inspirations are to be insinuated into the head and 
into the heart of the child. This reading is either done in 
class, with commentaries which throw into relief the impor- 
tant parts of -the text, or is done personally by the pupil. 

" School libraries," say the Rapports of the inspectors-general, 
" when they are well maintained, will furnish the teacher powerful 
aids in education and moral instruction. The influence of good 
books is very important, and so their influence should be extended 
everywhere in oi'der to develop, by this means, a high state of 
moral sentiment." 

442. Poetry. — We have noted in another place the rela- 
tions between the beautiful and the good, between art and 
morals. In our schools we haA^e not yet learned to draw 
from literary studies all the advantage which education is 
entitled to expect from them. 

" If the moral and religious sense consists above all in respect- 
ful homage and submission rendered to what is better than one's 
self, to the ideal, to the good, and finally to the perfect Being, 
what is more proper for awakening it than to make an appeal to 
the sense of admiration for what is beautiful, — beautiful in 
thought, sentiment, form, and order; for everything which, by 
surpassing our low level, solicits us to step out of ourselves and to 
mount higher ? Let us recognize a great want here, which I will 
only indicate. The official, dogmatic religion has retired from 
our schools, and nothing has yet come to take its place ; moral 
instruction has no more than appeared on the threshold; and art 
in its various forms, but particularly in the eminently educative 
form of poetry, does not fulfill in any degree its office of high 
culture. Even choral singing, which has always been the chosen 
instrument of religious, moral, and patriotic education, nowhere 
exists, so to speak, iu our schools." 



408 PEACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

443. Theoretical Morals. — While the teaching of 
morals in the common school has mainly a practical aim, 
the instructor need not negkct to give to his lessons an ele- 
vated general character. It d<;es not suffice to teach pupils 
their individual duties, and put them in a condition to prac- 
tice them ; but it is necessary that the course in morals be 
also an occasion to awaken the reflection of the child on the 
nature of man and on his destination in the world. 

" The last course," says M. Janet, " will not be finished without 
having given the children some notions of what we call theoretical 
morals, — that is, the explanation of tlie principles of morals, the 
distinction between good and evil, duty as distinct froni personal 
interest, conscience and the moral sense, merit and demerit, moral 
sanction and the future life founded on the justice of God." 

In other terms, the teacher has not only to favor the par- 
ticular dispositions which will prepare the child for. the 
accomplishment of such or such a duty ; but he ought to aim 
higher and by all possible means, by the strict application of 
rules, by the judicious use of rewards and punishments, by 
exhortations and reprimands, and on occasion by theoretical 
explanations, he will do his best to develop in the soul of his 
pupil that which is the basis of all morals, the feeling of 
personal responsibility. 

444. Civic Instruction. — Recently introduced into the 
programmes of primary instruction, civic instruction might 
in a sense be confounded with morals, of which it is but the 
complement. It is impossible, in fact, to become a citizen 
if one does not begin by being a man. The firmest basis of 
the civic virtues will always be the practice of the individual 
and social vu'tues. 

It is with reason, however, that a special place has been 
given to civic instruction, were it only to bring into clearer 



MORALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION, 409 

view its importance and utility. But it is not proposed to 
give merely indirect instruction in civics, such as might 
result from history, geography, etc. ; but there is oppor- 
tunity to give direct instruction in all the topics included 
in this expression by connecting them with the courses in 
history and geography. 

445. Necessity of Civic Instruction. — It is not enough 
to say that instruction in civics is useful ; the truth is that it 
is necessary. It is especially so since political liberty, that 
conquest of the Republic of 1848, has been added to civil 
liberty, that conquest of the Revolution. 

In a countr}^ which governs itself, where each individual 
through his vote participates freely in the direction of public 
affairs, why permit the majority of citizens, those who 
attend only the common school, to remain in ignorance of 
their political and social obligations ? 

You require them to respect and love the Constitution, and 
they do not know the Constitution ! 

You require them to exercise their rights and perform 
their duties, and they are ignorant of the meaning and the 
scope of these rights and duties ! 

Citizens who boast of this glorious name without knowing 
what obligation it imposes on them ; electors who vote with- 
out knowing the importance of their vote ; tax-payers who 
pay taxes without comprehending the use made of them ; 
inhabitants of a country who have not been taught to love 
her ; — such are necessarily the members of a people who 
have lacked instruction in civics. 

Doubtless the newspapers repair this ignorance in part, 
but there is no regularity and system in the teaching of the 
press ; it is subject to a thousand hazards. Moreover, all 
the newspapers are not what they should be ; and, finally, the 
newspaper often comes too late to heal the poUtical preju- 



410 PRACTICAL TEDAGOGY. 

dices which have been left to take root in the soul of the 
child and the young mau. 

A distinguished writer, Vitet, said a few years ago, " Love 
of country is not taught in France." If this assertion is 
true, it is important that it cease to be so, and that the chil- 
dren of France learn to love not only their country, but also 
the institutions of their country, 

" Without civic and political education," wrote Pestalozzi, " the 
sovereign people is a child playing with fire at the risk eacii 
moment of burning down the house." 

In 1877 M. Grcard demanded the introduction into French 
schools of what abroad has long been called civic instruc- 
tion. 

" What good sense demands," he said, " is that to the respect 
for the national traditions which is the basis of enlightened patri- 
otism, there be joined in the minds of children who have reached 
the age of reason, a knowledge of the general laws in common use 
in their country. What our pupils know the least, is that which 
for themselves and for everybody they should have the most in- 
terest in knowing. It is surely not without use for them to have 
an idea of the capitularies of Charlemagne; but how much more 
important it is tliat they shall not be left in ignorance of the prin- 
ciples of the social organization in the midst of which they are 
called to fulfill their duties as citizens! Doubtless the child 
sliould not be an absolute stranger to the regime of our ancient 
provinces ; but is it not still more indispensable that he have an 
exact notion of all that actually constitutes the organic life of a 
commune, of a department, of the state ? How many pupils there 
are who might explain in a fashion what in their day the Mayors 
of the Palace were, who would be greatly embarrassed to define 
the function and the prerogatives of the mayor of their arrondisse- 
ment or of their village! And if these notions are not taught 
them at school, as they might be, and as they are in all the coun- 
tries about us, where and how shall they be learned?" ^ 

1 M. Gre'ard, L' Enseignement priinaire a Paris de 1867 a 1877, p. 281. 



MOEALS AND CIVIC INSTEUCTION. 411 

446. Method to be Pursued. — There is nothing dryer 
or more monotonous than a course of instruction in civics, 
if the teacher does nothing more than enumerate to the 
child the administrative and political notions of which it is 
composed. But it is easy, if one takes the trouble, to ani- 
mate and vivify this instruction by citing examples, by 
availing one's self of history, and above all by aiming to 
excite without cessation national ideas and to enkindle the 
flame of patriotism. 

The purpose of civic instruction, in fact, is not only to 
introduce into the mind of the child a certain amount of 
positive knowledge ; but it is, above all, to cultivate in his 
soul at an early hour his natural inclination to love his 
country and to respect her laws. 

The official programme indicates the course to be pur- 
sued, which consists, as in geography, in taking the com- 
mune as the starting-point, and thence passing progres- 
sively to the study of the department and the state. Famil- 
iarized at first with the institutions which are, so to speak, 
within his reach, and which he sees in operation in his vil- 
lage, the child will have no difficulty in rising higher, and 
will be wholly prepared to conceive the more complicated 
play of the government itself. But all this on the condition 
that the teacher knows how to avoid dryness, that he does 
not multiply useless details, that he excites the child's curi- 
osity, that he appeals to his patriotic feelings, that he 
always shows him what advantage he will derive in life 
from the knowledge which he acquires at school, and how 
much he needs to know all that can be taught him on this 
point, in order to fulfill later his duties as a citizen and to 
exercise a citizen's rights. 

447. Civic Instruction and History. — History, which 
teaches us the past of our country, is one thing, and civic 



412 PUACTICAL ]'EL).U;UL. k. 

iustniction, which intikcs known to us its i)resi;nt state, its 
iictuul orgiuiization, is quite aiiolhei'. However, we must 
never separate ''to-day" and " foruK-ily " ; and eivie in- 
struction will not be fruitl'ul unless it is ever stinuilating a 
comparison between contemporary institutions and ancient 
institutions. 

Of course a large s|)irit of toleration, and even of respect, 
should animate the instructor in the comparisons which he 
will have to make between tlii! past and the present. In 
praising tlie actual state of affairs, he should have a fear 
lest he unduly undervalue and misrepresent wliat now is no 
more. This has been elo(|uently said by Jules Ferry : 

" T do not like to have it said to children, * There is nothing but 
contemporary history.' Ah I it was doubtless a liappy thought 
and a real step in advance to introduce contempoi'ary history into 
the prograiiinies of our elementary instruction ; but let us be on 
our guard against an opposite extreme. Do not think it wise to 
say to youth, ' Back of 1789, back of that brilliant and renovating 
date, there is nothing, nothing but sadness, nothing but misery, 
nothing but shame.' In the first place this is not true, and then 
such talk is not wholesome for youth." * 

4 18. Civic Instijuotion and Politics. — By reason of its 
relations with politics, civic instruction falls upon rocks 
where it is easy to make shipwreck. The instructoi- should 
be on his guard against making of his pupils little journal- 
ists and embryo politicians, Avithout forgetting, however, 
what he owes his country and the respect which is due to 
the established government. 

As some one has said, we ought not to carry politics into 
the school, "if we mean by politics what occurs day after 
day in the Chand)crs, who is the Minister to-day, and who 
will be the Minister to-morrow." 

^ Discours au Se'nat, du 10 Juin, 1882. 



MOKALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION, 413 

But if WO un(,l(!r8tanfl by politics a knowledge of the great 
principles of liberty, of equality, and of fraternal solidarity, 
which are the foundation of modern societies, and wlii(;h tli(; 
sons of the Revolution had to defend against the laggards 
and against the impatient ; if we understand by politics 
love of country and attachment to the Republic, we say yes, 
and believe that it is never too soon to inculcate the idea of 
it, and that this sort of politics is fit for all periods of life. 

The law of March 22, 1882, put moral and civic instruc- 
tion among the obligatory topics of instruction in the pri- 
mary schools for boys and girls. Hereafter moral and civic 
instruction will take among the required studies, between 
grammar and arithmetic, the place which it has the right to 
claim as a valuable instrument for popular education and as 
a branch of instruction particularly necessary in a land of 
universal suffrage, in a great democracy which it would be 
of no use to emancipate if it were not at the same time 
enlightened as to its rights and its duties. 

449. Lay Rights in thf: Matter of Moral Education. 
— The work of the teacher is not done when he has culti- 
vated and adorned the minds of his pupils, and has fur- 
nished them with technical knowledge for the combats of 
life. He derives from his title as teacher, he has received 
from the confidence of families, a still higher office. By 
virtue of his office and according to his position, he is the 
educator of the rising generation. 

It would certainly be easier, supposing this were possible, 
to confine himself stiictly to his professional duties, to be 
simply a teacher of French, history, or matheniatics ; to go 
no deeper than the surface of the mind ; not to t<^>uch the 
living and inner reality of beliefs, and in a word, as some 
one has said, "to be nothing but a sort of dancing-mastf-r 
of the intelligence." 



414 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

But whether he will oi- uot, by the very nature of his 
duties, by his ceaseless influence on the souls of the chil- 
dren confided to bis caie, tlie teacher necessarily assumes 
a higher responsibility- He intervenes not only tlu-ough 
direct moral lessons, but through the spirit which pro- 
ceeds from all his instruction, and still more through his 
example, in the moral training of his pupils ; and I do not 
hesitate to say that this is his duty and his right. 

Yes, we boldly claim for lay teachers the title of educa- 
tors and moralists. In order to perform this august part, it 
is not necessary to wear the robes of a priest. It is suffi- 
cient to b© a man, an upright man. 

By wliat right, some one will say, do you teach morals? 
By the right which every good man has, who is at the same 
time a teacher, to communicate to his pupils that which is 
his most precious treasure, — moral truth, the most essential 
and most important of all. Do I need to say that this task, 
if it is the most noble, is also the most delicate? It is espe- 
cially on this point that the intentions of the University are 
misunderstood and its work suspected. We are treated as 
U8uri)ers and as the enemies of religion ; and, in the lan- 
guage of certain political partisans, " the common school 
became a godless scliool on the day when the teaching of 
morals was officially introduced into it." 

We would have deserved these reproaches if we had for 
a single moment forgtjtteu what respect and regard we owe 
to the religious consciousness and the confessional belief of 
our pupils ; but it must be evident to every candid man that 
in undertaking to teacli human morals, the eternal moi'al law, 
we do not purpose in any way to trespass on tlie riglits of 
parents or of the ministers of religion. Though we are the 
sincere and ardent defenders of the. rights of modern so- 
ciety, we are none the less conscious of tiie respect which a 
government worthy of the name owes to the consciences of 



MOKALS AND CIVIC INSTRUCTION. 415 

religious men. What is more worthy of our respect than 
the conscience of a child, a nascent and as yet undeveloped 
conscience, an easy prey to all doctrines, which offers itself 
to our instruction with the ingenuous docility of early years, 
and which would so easily allow itself to be fashioned in the 
mold where it might please us to put it? But this con- 
science, God forbids us to touch it and to take it in hand, 
not only because this child's conscience is the whole future 
of the man and has its individual rights, but also because 
back of it, if we were guilty enough to wish to turn it aside 
from its natural aspirations, we would perceive the will of 
the parents, the rights of the family, and the whole inherit- 
ance of traditional beliefs. 

If there is still any one who imagines that in giving moral 
and civic instruction to all grades of public education, we 
have desired to raise altar against altar, to oppose the 
teacher to the priest or to the pastor, to estalilish some com- 
petition between the manual and the catechism, that we have 
desired by the side of each temple or each church to estab- 
lish a school of irreligion and impiety, so that the child on 
leaving the primary school passes before the doors of the 
church or the temple with the spirit of indifference or of 
scoffing, he is mistaken ; and we protest against these impu- 
tations with all the power of our conscience as a man, a 
patriot, and a republican. 

Our only thought has been that, at a time when we are 
concerned with what is of vital interest to a great nation, — 
I mean the moralization of the people, — it is not expecting 
too much of the good-will and devotion of all, that moral 
lessons should not lose all their efficacy for not being 
clothed with an ecclesiastical character ; but that lay teach- 
ers might participate in this instruction. And when we 
have thus assumed our part of the common task, instead of 
being cursed as adversaries, perhaps it may be more just to 
give us thanks as co-laborers. 



416 rRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

We shall not lose heart. We shall continue to invite all 
the pupils of our colleges and schools to the neutral ground 
of instruction in morals, where we attack no religion, where 
we preach justice, charity, and tolerance, which is charity 
towards ideas. We shall continue to build upon these solid 
foundations the human city, while leaving to the ministers 
of religion the task of building by the side of it what vSt. 
Augustine called the City of God.^ 

1 The public school system of France, taken collectively, and 
including all the grades of instruction, is known as the " University of 
France," and is under the direction of the Minister of Public Instruc- 
tion. The significance of paragraph 449 lies in the fact that the 
schools of France have been secularized, — that is, taken wholly from 
the hands of ecclesiastics and administered by laymen. The clnu'ch 
is naturally aggrieved at this, claims the teaching of morals as one of 
its prerogatives, and pronounces the state schools godless. ( P.) 



CHAPTEE IX. 

DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 

450. Drawing in the Common .School. — Drawing has 
long been considered as an accomplisliment, as a fancy 
study reserved to people of leisure or to professional artists. 
It has resulted from this that drawing has for a long time 
been omitted from the programme of common school in- 
sttuction. But it has now gained the day. For several 
yours past the teaciiing of drawing has been obligatory in 
most of the schools of Europe. As some one has said, 
" there is an advent of drawing, as well as of science, in edu- 
cation." It is acknowledged on all sides that drawing is 
not only an elevated recreation and a preparation for an 
appreciation of the beautifid, but it is also the prime con- 
dition of all progress in the different branches of artistic 
industry. 

" Without drawing, no skillful workmen, no good superintend- 
ents of manufactories, no proiJiess and excellence in the hi^liest 
industries, those which give proof of civilization." ^ 

" Tlie advantages which can be derived from drawing, through 
its happy applications to the mechanic arts, are infinitely valuable. 
It is the soul of several branches of conmierce ; it is drawing 
which gives the preference to the industries of a nation ; it in- 
creases the value of crude material a hundred-fold. Clotlis, 
jewelry, trinkets, porcelain, carpets, — all the trades relating to 
the arts cannot be carried on, except through the principles of 
drawing." ^ 

1 See the article Dessix in the DicHonnaire de i^e'dagotjie. 

2 Bachelier, Discours sur Vutilitc des e'coles eUmentaires. 

417 



418 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

451. Historical: Rousseau. — Rousseau was tlie first in 
France to recouimeud the study of drawing, — drawing 
from nature, moreover, witli the intention of making skillful 
workmen rather than elegant artists. 

" We could not learn to judge correctly of the width and height 
of objects except by learning to know also their shapes, and even 
to copy them ; for at bottom this copying is absolutely dependent 
on the laws of perspective ; and we cannot estimate the size from 
these appearances except we have some perception of these laws. 
Children, who are great inntators, all try their hand at drawing. 
I would have my child cultivate this art, not especially for the art 
itself, but in order to make his eye true and his hand dextrous ; 
and in general it is of very little consequence that he understand 
such or such an exercise, provided he acquire the perspicacity of 
sense and Mie correct habit of body that are generally acquired 
through that exercise. I would be very loth, therefore, to give 
him a drawing-master lolio should (jive Mm only imitations to imitate, 
and who should makt Mm draw only after drawings; I would have 
him have no teacher but nature, and no other models but objects. 
I would have before his eyes the very original, and not the paper 
which represents it ; and I would have him sketch a house from a 
house, a tree from a tree, a man from a man, in order that he may 
accustom himself to observe bodies and their appearances cor- 
rectly, and not to accept false and conventional imitations for real 
imitations. T would even discourage him from tracing anything 
from memory, in the absence of objects, until by frequent obser- 
vations their exact shapes are firndy imiiressed on his imagina- 
tion ; for fear that by substituting odd and fantastic figures for 
the actual things, he lose all knowledge of proportion and a taste 
for the beauties of nature. 

"I very well know that in this way he will scrawl for a long 
time without making anything that is recognizable, and that he 
will be late in acquiring elegance of contour and the light touch 
of draftsmen, and perhaps never the appreciation of picturesque 
effects and fine taste in drawing; but on the other hand he will 
certainly acquire a truer vision, a steadier hand, a knowledge of 
the real similarities of size and shape among animals, plants, and 



DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 419 

natural bodies, and a more ready acquaintance with the shifting 
of persi^ective." ^ 

Rousseau is wrong in absolute!}' proscribing the imitation 
of artificial models. Another error is tliat he very sharply 
separates drawing from geometry. "■ Geometry," he sa^'s, 
" is for our i)upils but the art of making a good use of the 
rule and compass ; and it must not be confounded with 
drawing, which will employ neither of these instruments." 

452. Pestalozzi and Froebel. — After Rousseau, Pesta- 
lozzi and Froebel are the ones who have done the most to 
popularize elementary instruction in drawing. 

For Pestalozzi, geometrical forms constitute the very 
essence of draAving. The pupil will first draw straight 
lines, squares, triangles, and arcs of the circle. Later, 
when the jesthetic element of form is separated from the 
purely mathematical element, and the pupil has gained a 
clear consciousness of it. exercises in linear drawing will be 
followed l)y lessons in perspective and in artistic drawing. 

The drawing of lines is but a preparation for the drawing 
of objects. 

" It is not lines," he says, " that nature gives the child ; she 
gives him only objects ; and we should give him lines only to aid 
him in seeing objti ts correctly, and we should guard against 
removing the objects from him and making him see only lines." 

Pestalozzi did hardly more than la}^ down principles ; 
Froebel has applied them. Like Pestalozzi, he takes geo- 
metrical figures as the starting-point. 

" From the start the child has before him a table divided into 
squares, and then a slate divided into squares. Balls, cubes, thin 
strips of wood, taken in turn, familiarize him with geometrical 

1 Emile, I., II. 



420 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

forms ; yarns and strips of paper drill him in distinguishing 
colors. What he has seen he will naturally reproduce. For 
guiding his fii'st attempts it suffices to make him begin with 
elementary forms. He commences by seeing concrete and tan- 
gible lines, so to speak, represented by sticks ; at first he has only 
to lay down and arrange in different ways the laths or the cubes 
in order to obtain regular figures. Very soon, by weaving the 
strips of paper, he himself produces mosaics in little squares of' 
several colors. Finally, when he takes the pencil iu hand, it is 
easy for him to represent on the slate or on paper the combina- 
tions which he has produced with these sticks, cubes, and stri]>s 
of paper, and by means of the incitements of analogy and the 
help of the squares which guide him without restraining him, and 
by means of the growing instinct of harmony and symmetry 
which kindergarten training marvelously develops, he cannot 
restrict himself to imitating, but he invents almost at once new 
combinations of lines whose regular arrangement delights him and 
gives his ceaseless encouragement to new efforts."^ 

453. Definition of Terms. — Usage has sanctioned cer- 
tain expressions, according to which drawing would com- 
prise different varieties which are wholly distinct, such as 
linear, geometrical, ornamental, artistic, or imitative draw- 
ing. Linear drawing is in truth nothing but geometrical 
drawing, — that is, drawing which is more specially applied 
to the representntion of objects geometrically defined. Or- 
namental drawing is but a development of geometrical draw- 
ing. Finally, artistic or imitative drawing is generally 
applied to the representation of the human figure. 

454. Actual Programmes. — The teaching of drawing 
was not made obligatory in the common scliools of France 
till 1882. The decree of July 27, 1882, requires that the 
teaching of drawing, begun with very short lessons in the 
elementnry course, " shall occupy in the tw^o other courses 
two or three lessons each week." 

1 M. Buisson, Rapport sur I'expusition tie Vienne, p. 247. 



DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 421 

The programme indicates, as matter for the elementary 
course, the tracing of lines and the first principles of orna- 
mental drawing. 

For the intermediate course, free-hand drawing, ordinary 
geometrical curves, and curves borrowed from the vegetable 
world ; copying from casts representing ornaments, and the 
first notion of geometrical drawing as related to the dimen- 
sions, form, and position of the parts of an object ; finally, 
geometrical drawing with the use of the rule, tlie compass, 
the square, and the protractor. In this part of the course 
the effort will be limited to making pupils understand the 
use of those instruments which they are to handle in the 
higher course. 

For the higher course, elementary notions on the orders 
of architecture and the drawing of the human liead are 
added to the free-hand drawing. As to geometrical draw- 
ing, the traces hitherto executed on the board will now be 
made on paper with the aid of instruments. The principles 
of tinting are given, and decorative drawings are executed 
in cliiua ink and color. 

455. At what Age should Instruction in Drawing 
Begin? — When the child writes rapidly and well, said 
Locke, I think that it is proper, not only to continue to 
exercise his hands by writing, but even to give extension 
to his skill by teaching him to draw. In fact, there are 
striking similarities between writing and drawing, and 
these two exercises may and should lend one another 
mutual support. So in imitation of Froebel we cannot 
too much encourage the teaching of drawing even in the 
infant school. 

" Nothing could be better adapted to a little child than drawing, 
which occupies his eyes and his hand, and compels him, by the 
very nature of the exercise and without the necessity of inviting 



422 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

him to it, to observe attentively, to compare, and to combine. We 
intentionally underscore this last word, because it correctly indi- 
cates the superiority of drawing over the other exercises in obser- 
vation, where the child looks without having to reproduce what 
he sees. In the most modest attempts at drawing, there is an 
element of creation, an active personal part which constitutes one 
of the greatest attractions of this kind of work. With the pencil 
in hand, the child invents even more than he copies." ^ 

456. Children's Taste for Drawing. — All the ob- 
servers of human nature, and notably Mr. Spencer, have 
observed the child's taste for drawing. 

" The spreading recognition of drawing as an element of 
education is one amongst many signs of the more rational 
views on mental culture now lieginning to prevail. Once more 
it may be remarked that teachers are at length adopting the 
course which nature has for ages been pressing upon their 
notice. The spontaneous efforts made by children to represent 
men, houses, trees, and animals around them, — on a slate, if 
they can get nothing better, or with lead-pencil or paper, if 
they can beg them, — are familiar to all. To be shown 
through a picture-book is one of their highest gratifications; 
and as usual their strong imitative tendency presently generates 
in them the ambition to make pictures themselves also. This 
attempt to depict the striking things they see is a farther 
instinctive exercise of the perceptions, — a .means whereby still 
greater accuracy and completeness of observation is induced. 
And, alike by seeking to interest us in their discoveries of 
the sensible properties of things, and by their endeavors to 
draw, they solicit from us just that kind of culture which 
they most need." '^ 

457. Taste for Coloring. — Mr. Spencer has also ob- 
served that the process of re})resentation which most charms 
and attracts the child is coloring. 

1 Mile. Chalaniet, L'Ecole viaternelle, p. 135. 
•2 Spencer, op. cit, p. 140. 



DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 423 

"Paper and pencil are good, in default of something better; 
but a box of paints and a brush, — these are the ti'easures. The 
drawing of outlines immediately becomes secondary to coloring." 

But is it possible to introduce the use of colors into the 
common school? The programme admits of it in a certain 
measure, since it is prescribed for the infant classes in the 
following terms : 

" Combination of lines. Representation of these combinations 
on slate and paper with an ordinary pencil, or by tracing in color." 

Also in the higher course of the common school, the pro- 
grannne, as we have seen, recommends exercises in tinting 
with china ink and in color. 

458. Two Different Methods. — It is none the less true 
that the most important thing in drawing is the line and its 
combinations, and not color and its shades. 

What method shall be followed to familiarize the child, as 
surely and as rapidly as possible, with the study of lines? 
Two systems are before us, — on the one hand, that which 
would not have geometry made the basis of instruction in 
drawing, which asserts that the human form, — being that 
which is most perfect and most harmonious in its propor- 
tions, — it is with it that the study of drawing should begin ; 
on the other hand the classical method, which proceeds log- 
ically, analytically so to speak, and which, before presenting 
wholes for the imitation of the child, drills him in reproduc- 
ing the elements of every figure and of every form, — that 
is, the lines in their different combinations. 

459. Mr. Spencer's Opinion. — Mr. vSpencer vigorously 
condemns the method which consists ' ' in making straight 
lines and curved lines and compound lines, with which it is 
the fashion of some teachers to begin." This is, he says, 
to renew in the teaching of drawing the exercises which 



424 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

have been abandoned in the teaching of languages ; it is 
again pkicing the aljstract before the concrete. 

It is difficult to prove, however, that lines, even though 
they are but the elements of real forms, constitute anything 
abstract. This is as though, in the teaching of reading, we 
should forbid the child to learn the letters which are the 
elements of words. It seems to us that it is best to place 
at the beginning of the studies in drawing the tracing of 
lines, their division into equal parts, and the estimation of 
the relation of lines to one another. This, according to Mr. 
Spencer's expression, is a "grammar," or rather an alpha- 
bet, of forms, which must necessarily be learned before 
going farther. 

Mr. Spencer's opinion is also that which is advocated in 
France by M. Ravaisson. 

" In its most elementary processes," he says, " to which all 
others may be reduced, drawing reposes on a judgment 
of a special nature, entirely different from that judgment 
which is employed in mathematics. . . . The best means of 
drawing any object whatever will then be to study the objects 
in which are found in the highest degree those qualities which 
constitute their harmony and beauty, in such a way as to 
appropriate, at least as much as one is capable of doing and as 
his time will permit, the spirit which characterizes them. This 
will be to study the complete types of the highest perfection 
which nature presents to us. Even for him who will have, in 
the practice of the trade to which he devotes himself, only to 
execute the more modest task of imitation, the best method for 
succeeding as promptly as possible in fulfilling his duties properly 
will then be the one which all teachers have always prescribed, 
and which consists in studying for a long time, and as long as 
one is able, the types in which is exhibited the unity which 
impresses on forms their character, and especially the higher 
unity in which beauty resides." ^ 

1 See article Art in the Diet, de pe'dagogie. 



DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 425 

The method proposed by M. Ravaisson is undoubtettty 
the most favorable for the developmeut of the aesthetic fac- 
ulties and of the sentiment of the beautiful. It is the one 
perhaps which we would recommend if it were proposed in a 
common school to train artists ; but in the humble sphere in 
which the destinies of elementary instruction are placed, it 
seems to us more rational to follow the other method, that 
which is based on the solid elements borrowed from geomet- 
rical representations. 

460. Classical Opinion. — This method has been bril- 
liantly defended by M. E. Guillaume,^ and it is impossible 
more strongly to enforce the reasons which justify the 
preference which we have given it. M. Guillaume observes 
that it is not so much a question of sentiment as of 
practical habits, and that drawing ought not to remain in 
the domain of uncertainties, but that it must have a rational 
basis. 

"From the fact that drawing serves as a mode of expression 
in the fine arts, it is inferred that art is its pi'incipal, if not its 
unique object, and that in the teaching of drawing it is art 
that should be principally kept in view. The general and use- 
ful phase, the means of precision which it borrows from science 
and which serve as a necessary support even to the concep- 
tions of the artist, are despised; and before knowing how to 
draw a line or recognize its direction, moral expression becomes 
the theme. In a trice accuracy is sacrificed to sentiment. Taste 
is exalted as the supreme rule, and the fundamental principles 
and exercises, without which, farther on, neither inspiration nor 
actual works can be produced with certainty, are treated with 
disdain. The ideal is exalted and pupils are enamored of 
jesthetic theories, before being inured to practice and becoming 
masters of the laws which control it. Finally, the attention is 

i See article Dessin in the Dictionnaire de pMagogie. 



426 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

fixed on the artistic vocations which are the exception, while an 
appeal should be made to the mass, where it is a question of 
children whose intelligence is developed progressively, and most 
of whom are destined to be workmen. Is there not a danger 
in appealing to the initiative and independence of sentiment 
wlieii the only proper course is to give direction and discipline 
to minds ? However little a child may follow a course in drawing, 
he should carry away from it definite ideas and practical hab- 
its which will be of use to him during his entire life." 

M. Guillaume concludes that in practice, as iu theory, it 
is geometry that is the basis of the science of drawing, and 
that we have to do with industrial drawing or with artistic 
drawing. If any other course is taken, it is very difficult 
to arrive at exactness, and the draftsman will run a great 
risk of always remaining in indecision and vagueness. 

But this rigorous and scientific method does not exclude 
the pursuits of the beautiful and the education of the aes- 
thetic sense ; oul}', instead of being the point of departure, 
the human figure will be the coronation of the studies in 
drawing. In the higher course, the copying of figures after 
the antique will exercise the taste. 

" From these admirat)le specimens of an art which has never 
been surpassed, the pupil will develoi^ the artistic faculties 
which may exist within him. Trained from the first to draw- 
ing with exactness and precision, he will never remain power- 
less to translate the delicate or strong works which have been 
transmitted to us by the most brilliant epochs of art." 

4G1. Particular Advice. — It would require too much 
time to enter into a detail of the school usages which are 
best adapted to the teaching of drawing. Let us note 
merely a few essential points. 

I. So far as possible, the first models ought to be real 
objects. The programme of the maternal schools rightly 



DKAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 427 

places by the side of the drawings made by the mistress, 
which the pupil reproduces, '' the representation of the 
most simple objects of daily use." In other terms, the 
pupil ought not to be exclusiveW restricted to the study 
of pure geometrical forms. It is well that he be early 
exercised in reading and translating the forms of natural 
objects. 

II. At first only figures of two dimensions — that is, 
planes — must be drawn. Figures in relief ought to be re- 
served for a later period. 

III. Ornamental drawing ought to follow geometrical 
drawing. 

IV. Elementary instruction in drawing, even when we 
have in view only industrial drawing, ought not to neglect 
the human form. 

V. The principles of industrial drawing (,<ii2,lit to be 
taught pari passu with exercises in di-awing. " The ac- 
quisition of technical skill by the hand is hastened, rather 
than retarded, by the study of these pimciples." 

462. Singing in the Common School. — The teaching of 
the arts proper in the common school is reduced to singing 
and drawing. But drawing is especially a useful art, the 
stud}' of which prepares the ordinary child for his future 
vocation as a laborer or an artisan ; it is only incidentally an 
element of aesthetic education. It tends rather to develop 
manual skill than to cultivate the sentiment of the beautiful. 
On the contrary, music and singing have not the same prac- 
tical utility. They have been introduced into the common 
school cliiefly as measures of gratifying tlie feelings, of touch- 
ing the heart, and of exciting the noblest emotions of the 
soul. Hence the particular importance of singing, which 
seems to involve all tha-t can be demanded of aesthetic edu- 
cation in the common school. 



428 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

463. Singing in the Maternal School. — On this sub- 
ject we cannot do better than reproduce the very judicious 
observations of Mile. Chalamet. 

" Singing has always had a place in our infant schools, and 
with justice. It may render important service in the education 
of little children. It brings a valuable contribution to physical 
development by fortifying the lungs and giving suppleness to 
all the vocal organs. These oi-gans are less liable to the many 
and grave maladies which might affect them, especially in early 
years, if they have been subjected to regular exercise. By this 
means we provide for the education of the ear ; we cultivate 
and rejfine a sense which plays along with vision a pre-eminent 
part in the intellectual existence of the child. Finally, singing 
exercises over the mental condition of children an influence 
which makes of it a potent instrument of education, and one 
of the surest and most salutary means of discipline which can 
be employed. Who does not know the effect produced by a song 
introduced at the right moment into a sleepy, languid class, or 
it may be into one agitated and disturbed? Music has the gift 
of calming children, and at the same time of urging them to 
activity by an agreeable excitation. The child loves music. 
Singing makes him happy, and is for him a natural need, 
like running and jumping. Can we conceive an assembly of 
little children where there is no singing? This would be as 
little normal and as funereal as a garden whose plants never 
saw the sun." ^ 

Since 1H82 singing has been one of the obligatory topics 
of common-school instruction. 

"Lessons in singing," says the regulation, "shall occupy 
from one to two hours a week, independently of the exercises 
in singing which will take place every day, either in the in- 
tervals between classes or at the opening or close of school." 

464. Moral Influence of Music. — The ancients as- 

1 Mile. Chalamet, L'Ecole inaternelle, p. 255. 



DKAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 429 

scribed to music a sovereign influence in moral education. 
A well-educated Athenian must know how to sing, and the 
education of Themistocles, who had not this accomplish- 
ment, was thought to have been neglected. Music was 
regarded as the best means of habituating citizens to order 
and social harmony. '-A rule of music cannot be touched," 
said Plato, "without disturbing the foundations of the 
state." It is to the same effect that Napoleon the First 
said, "A piece of moral music, executed by the hand of a 
master, infallibly touches the feelings, and has much more 
influence than a good book, which convinces the reason 
without influencing our habits." 

" From the intellectual point of view," says a contemporary 
author, M. Dupaigne, " the result of music is to elevate the 
mind, to give it a taste for tlie beautiful, of which it is 
perhaps the most sensible example, and to lead from a taste 
for the beautiful to a love of study which will give in sev- 
eral other ways satisfaction to this taste. In this respect 
music is one of the most powerful auxiliaries, which gains 
time instead of losing it, because it prepares the way for the 
things of the spirit, for things deUcate and exalted. In pri- 
mary instruction it is music which first represents the aesthetic 
phase of education, so necessary to be mingled with the 
commonplaces of the first elements. It is music which, bet- 
ter understood and more easily grasped than literary beauty, 
more easily permits children to feel the charm and emotion 
produced by what they have known to be well said, and the 
delicious satisfaction of having had their part in the pro- 
duction of something heauliful. The importance of such im- 
pressions for the progress of a child's intelligence is not 
necessary to be demonstrated to earnest teachers ; but we 
know that they require in him who would produce them at 
least that profound sentiment of art which is called taste, 
and that they necessarily exclude pretence and charlatanism. 

" From the moral point of view, the effects of music are 
not less valuable. It may become for young people the most 



430 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

powerful preservative against the dangers of other pleasures, 
but on the conditions of a careful choice in selections, and 
of admitting within the school only the works of a pure 
and exalted sentiment, and of not fearing to appeal, as much 
as possible, to the great masters." 

465. Music and Discipline. — It is useless to dwell on 
the part that music may play in school discipliue. Music not 
only makes the school attractive, but is an excellent means 
for regulating the movements of pupils as they cuter and 
leave the school-room, and of introducing order and liarraony 
into it ; it is, moreover, an excellent recreation, which gives 
repose from serious studies, and which may, during the prog- 
ress of the classes, reanimate the activity and the spirits of 
the pupils. 

4fi6. Choice of Pieces. — It is a matter of complaint 
that there is not yet a good selection of pieces for use in the 
common schools ; and yet this selection is a matter of capital 
importance. These pieces ought to be simple, entertaining, 
with words adapted to the age of the child, — old melodies, 
patriotic songs, hymns to great men. 

" Success in the teaching of singing depends, in great part, 
on the selection of pieces which are given children to sing. 
Their first exercises in language had been but the expression 
of their own ideas, of their own impressions. ... It should 
be the same with their first exercises in singing. A collec- 
tion, of pieces, simple and well graded, is of extreme impor- 
tance The words ought also to be as similar as pos- 
sible to the very language of children, so as to be perfectly 
clear to them; but this condition does not exclude real 
poetry. The subjects chosen will be of various characters ; 
they will vary from serious to gay." ^ 

1 Roger de Guimps, Philoso-plde de V Education. 



DRAWING. — MUSIC. — SINGING. 431 

467. Methods and Processes. — The first thing to do is 
to train the ear and the voice. The ear will be trained by 
hearing and the voice by singing. 

In the elementary course, as in the intermediate and higher 
courses, the songs will be learned by audition. 

As at first musical theory will be purposely avoided, it is 
merely the practical which is of importance. 

"Singing, like a speech, is a matter of imitation. . . . The 
song must be grasped simply by the ear, by singing it to 
children, as many times as it may be necessary in order 
that the better endowed among them may retain it in a 
manner well-nigh correct." 

Obvious infirmities in the sense of hearing are due in 
general merely to the lack of exercise. 

" There is no incurable infirmity," says M. Dupaigne. " It 
is never the ear unless one is deaf, but it is exercise which 
is lacking." 

The beginning will be made, then, by requiring much 
practice of the children. When they have succeeded in sing- 
ing in unison, — that is, in exactly reproducing the sounds 
which they hear, — the half of the work has been done. 

An excellent piece of advice given by M. Dupaigne is to 
select from the children those who have an agreeable and 
reliable voice, and make them sing alone as an example for 
the others. 

468. Intuition in Singing. — Pestalozzi was right in 
thinking that as the child learns to speak before knowing 
how to read, he ought to learn to sing before knowing the 
conventional signs which serve for writing music. The 
child speaks because he has heard speaking ; so he will 
sing from having heard singing. 



432 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

469. Musical Theory. — lu the elementary course, musi- 
cal theory will be limited to the reading of notes. In the 
intermediate and higher courses, on the contrary, the study 
of theory proper should be added to the practical exercises. 

But care should be taken not to extend the study of theory 
too far. Teachers should spare their children theoretical 
difficulties, but train them to utter sounds distinctly, to control 
their voice, to notice shades of sound, and to have a clear and 
correct enunciation. 

The important thing is that the child, on leaving the com- 
mon school, shall have a taste for singing, and that his musi- 
cal aptitudes shall be so developed that he may be able, when 
he has become a young man, to become a member of a choral 
society, which is one of the most commendable and useful 
forms of popular association. By this means the study of 
singing will have co-operated in general education ; it will 
have contributed to turn aside souls from gross pleasures 
and material enjoyments, to direct them towards innocent 
and elevated pleasures. 



CHAPTEK X. 

THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 

470. Manual Labor in the Common School. — All the 
studies, all the school exercises, which we have so far exam- 
ined are conuected with intellectual and moral education, 
although some of them may receive an immediate practical 
application. But physical education, considered either as the 
development of the powers of the body or as an apprentice- 
ship in the qualities of expertness, agility, manual dexterity, 
promptness and sureness in the movements which are par- 
ticularly important to future workmen, — physical education 
also demands its place in the programme of the common 
schools. 

Hence the importance accorded to gymnastics on the one 
hand, and to manual labor proper on the other. 

" Gymnastics," says the order of July 27, 1882, " will occupy 
each day, or at least every other day, one recitation hour diu-- 
ing the course of the afternoon." 

" For the boys, as well as the girls, two or three hours a 
week will be devoted to manual industries." 

What we have said in the first part of this work (Chapter 
II.) makes it unnecessary for us to dwell on the utility and 
the nature of a normal course of instruction in gymnastics. 

471. Importance of Manual Labor. — "The national 
school, in a democracy of laborers like ours, ought to be 
essentially a school of labor." ^ It is a question, not only of 

1 Jules Ferry. 433 



434 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

developing the intellectual and moral faculties and of giving 
a general education which no one in any occupation can 
dispense with, but of preparing workmen for the shop and of 
training the manual aptitudes. Without losing anything of 
its proper character, the common school ought to be in part 
a preparation for the professional school. 

The time is no more when manual labor was considered a 
low occupAtion. The programme of moral and civic in- 
struction, ordered by the higlier council of public instruction, 
contains an article with this title : " Nobility of Manual 
Labor." For three centuries educators like Locke and 
Rousseau have demanded that the apprenticeship to a 
manual industry should be introduced even into the in- 
struction of the middle classes, and in general into the edu- 
cation of all men. If we have not yet reached this point, 
we have at least i)laced manual labor in the programme 
of the common school ; and this is surely a considerable 
step in advance. 

"Be assured," says Jules Ferry, "that when the plane and 
the file sliall have taken, by the side of the compass, the map 
and the history, the same place, the place of honor, and shall 
have been the object of a rational and systematic insti-uction, 
many prejudices will have disappeared, many caste distinctions 
will have vanished. Social peace will appear on the benches 
of the common school, and concord will illumine with its 
radiant day the future of French society." 

M. Greard has pithily expressed the same thought. 

" In our opinion it is not witliout some foundation that our 
common school studies are charged with being too classical, in 
the sense which tradition attaches to this word. With respect 
to history, geography, or language, we are pleased with the 
methods which befit an education of leisure. Everything draws 
the higher classes of society to the great questions of history 



THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 435 

and philosophy which constitute the development of human 
civilization, and they have the time to devote themselves to 
them. But such is not the condition of those who live by the 
labor of their hands, and it seems that we do not sufficiently 
consider the special conditions of the aid which it is the 
object of the common school to assure to them, and which 
ought to be as the intellectual and moral viaticum of their 
whole existence." 

Finally, the author of the law of 1881 on primary instruc- 
tion, Paul Bert, said to the same effect : 

" There is no need that any one should misunderstand our 
real thought. We do not demand that the common school 
become a professional school ; we do not believe that one 
ought to come from it either a locksmith or a vine-dresser. 
This is the business of trade-schools or shops, which ought 
to train artisans, while the school, accomplishing a much 
more general work, trains men and citizens. But we believe 
that scientific instruction ought not to rest in the domain of 
pure theory, but that practical applical^ions to the different 
industries ought to hold a large place in it. Now it seems 
to us necessary, in order that this practical instruction may 
bear all its fruits, that the child should learn to handle the 
principal tools by the aid of which man is made the master 
of the materials which are furnished him by nature and 
the fundamental industries, — wood, the metals, leather, etc. 
In this innovation we think we see a triple advantage : — a 
physical advantage, for in learning to use the plane, the saw, 
the hammer, the child will complete his gymnastic education, 
and will acquire a manual dexterity which will always be 
useful to him, whatever he may afterwards do, and will hold 
him in readiness, now and always, for all apprenticeships ; an 
intellectual advantage, for the thousand little difficulties which 
he will meet with will accustom him to observation and re- 
flection ; a social advantage, it may be said, for after having 
appreciated by his own experience the qualities necessary for 
success in professional duties and for becoming a skillful 



436 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY, 

workman, there is not the least fear that if fortune favors 
him, to whatever position he may afterwards come, he will 
despise those of his companions who always work with their 
hands." 

472. Manual Industries in Schools for Boys. — The 
orders and the programme of 1882 have organized manual 
labor in the common schools for boys, as follows : 

" For the manual labor of boys the exercises are divided 
into two groups : One comprises the different exercises in- 
tended in a general way to limber the fingers and give dex- 
terity, suppleness, rapidity, and accuracy of movement; the 
other group comprises graduated exercises in moulding, 
which serve as a complement to the cori'esponding study of 
drawing, and particularly of industrial drawing." 

Elementary Course. — Manual exercises intended to give 
manual dexterity. — Cutting of card-board in the forms of 
geometrical solids. — Basket-work : Union of splints of dif- 
fei-ent colors. — Moulding : Reproduction of geometrical solids 
and of very simple objects." 

Intermediate Course. — Construction of objects of card- 
board covered with colored drawings and with colored paper. 
— Trinkets of wire : lattice-work. — Combinations of wire 
and wood : Cages. — Moulding : Simple architectural orna- 
ments. — Notions on the most common tools. 

Higher Course. — Combined exercises of drawing and 
moulding; rough drafts of objects to be executed, and con- 
struction of these objects according to the sketches, or vice 
versa. — Study of the principal tools employed in wood-work. 
Practical graduated exercises. Planing and sawing wood, 
.simple unions. Boxes nailed or put together without nails. 
Wood-turning, the turning of very simple objects. — Study of 
the principal tools used in iron-work, the use of the file, 
paring or finishing of rough objects from the forge or foundry." 

473. By whom the Lessons in Manual Industry ought 
to be given. — In the actual state of affairs, the elemen- 



THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 437 

tary lessons in manual labor in the common school are 
given by the teacher. In the higher common schools resort 
is most often made to outside workmen who bring to the 
school the co-operation of a thorough experience in the 
trade which they have practiced all their life. The ideal 
would be, however, that in tiie higher common school the 
manual labor, like the school exercises, should be intrusted 
to the teachers themselves ; and this is why a recent order 
has required that the examination for a higher certificate 
should include an obligatory test in manual labor. 

474. Order to be Followed. — During the first years 
of the common school, the child, who is ignorant of every- 
thing, has so many things to loarn that it is only with dis- 
cretion that we must impose on him exercises in manual 
labor, but in the higher courses we should become more 
exacting. 

During the period from seven to ten years we must not 
require a great display of physical force ; the child must 
be exercised only in slight tasks which develop his manual 
dexterity. Drawing, cutting, making boxes of card-board, 
which permit him to obtain objects of various forms and 
colors, will call into play at the same time his intelligence, 
his attention, and his versatility. To these tasks will l)e 
added the making of little pieces of basket-work and the 
construction of metallic lattice- work, making necessary the 
use of light tools. At this stage the purpose should be to 
make children really produce objects which they can take 
home and exhibit as their own work. Some specimens 
marked with the name of each child will be left at school 
and will form parts of the school museum. 

During the period from ten to twelve years the children 
should be familiarized with most ©f the tools used in wood- 
work, and trained to use the lathe and initiated to the hand- 
ling of the file. 



438 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

During the whole period of school life the practice of 
moulding will serve to promote the skill and the deftness 
of the hand. 

Of course this professional education ought to he kept 
within wise limits, so as not to do prejudice to the ordinary 
studies. The school ought not to become a workshop ; it 
ought merely to prepare for the different manual industries 
by inspiring the tnste and by beginning to train the apti- 
tudes which they require. 

475. The Teaching of Agriculture. — The most of 
our common schools are rural schools. The majority of 
the children who attend them are to become field-laborers ; 
hence the particular importance of lessons in agriculture. 

It is in the garden of the school that these lessons ought 
at first to be given ; later they will be continued in excur- 
sions. They will not constitute, at least during the first 
years, a consecutive and didactic course. They will bear 
on the nature of the soil, upon fertilizers, upon the ordi- 
nary farm tools, and upon the different varieties of field- 
labor. 

In the higher course, the purpose will be to give to these 
subjects a more methodical character ; and an extension 
will lie given to them 1\v calling the attention of children 
to domestic animals and even to the keeping of farm 
accounts. 

There will be added to these general notions exact in- 
formation on arboriculture and horticulture ; upon the 
principal processes for the multiplication of vegetables, 
and on the most important metliods of grafting. Outside 
of the special lessons, it will be easy for an attentive 
teacher to give to his instruction a rural coloring through 
the choice of dictation exercises, problems, and reading 
lessons. The teaching of the physical and the natural 



THE OTHER EXEKCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 439 

sciences is particularly adapted to this purpose, and as 
often as possible there should be drawn from them practical 
conclusions which pertain to rural industry. 

476. Military Drill. — A child of our common schools 
is not only a future workman, but a future soldier. The 
school would fall short of its mission, which is to prepare 
for life, for complete living, if it did not devote a few houi's 
to military drill. 

" The most of our country conscripts reach the regiment 
awkward, ungainly, heavy in body and sometimes m mind, 
without carriage, without ever having had a sword in hand, 
and too often without ever having fired a gun. For two 
years they must with great difficulty be taught what they 
might have learned with so much pleasure while they were 
children ; and it is very fortunate if the drudgery, the pun- 
ishments, and the dry theory do not give them a hatred for 
the military vocation." ^ 

Through the military exercises of the school the legislator 
will be permitted to shorten the period of actual service in 
the regiment without compromising the national strength. 
From the moment of joining the regiment we shall have, 
not ungainly conscripts, but young men already broken to 
military tactics, and capable of handling a gun and of using 
it. By this means also we shall repair in part the military 
reputation of the French nation, which precisely, because it 
loves peace, and wishes to preserve it, ought to prepare itself 
to be, in the day of danger, a people of citizen-soldiers. 

The evolutions of these school battalions, which are be- 
coming more and more customary, are not, then, a vain 
parade. The children, who take great pleasure in them, are 
not playing soldier, but are seriously doing a serious thing, 

1 Paul Bert, De I' Education civiqve. 



440 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

a useful and patriotic thing. They are preparing to be the 
defenders of the country and of the Republic. 

477. Drill in Shooting. — The official programme is 
right in requiring not only drill in marching, counter- 
marching, alignment, etc., but also in imposing preparatory 
drill in shooting and a practical study of the mechanism of 
the gun. 

On leaving school, and during the interval between the 
thirteenth and twenty-first year, the child should become 
a member of the shooting societies which are established 
almost everywhere in the country, and which are called to 
render important services. But this cannot be unless in the 
school itself he has received an adequate preparation. But 
the military drill should not encroach on the hours devoted 
to study ; and the order of 1882 wisely directs that the 
battalion drill shall take place only on Thursday and Sunday, 
the time to be devoted to tlie purpose to be determined by 
the military instructor in concert with the director of the 
school. 

478. Other Practical Exercises. — It is not only the 
natural and physical sciences which lead to practical appli- 
cations. Geometry also leads the pupils of the common 
school to the simpler operation of surveying and leveling ; 
and arithmetic conducts them to an apprenticeship in book- 
keeping. 

In general, a practical turn luust be given to each branch 
of study, and it must never be forgotten that instruction is 
an apprenticesliip in real life. 

479. Manual Industries in Schools for Girls. — It is 
especially in the manual industries tliat the distinction of the 
sexes ought to occasion noticeable differences in procedure. 
On this subject the programme of 1882 speaks aa follows : 



THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 441 

"The manual labor for girls, besides the work in cutting and 
sewing, allows a certain number of lessons, conferences, and 
exercises, by means of which the mistress will attempt, not to 
give a regular course in domestic economy, but to inspire 
young women, through a great number of practical examples, 
with a love of order; to make them acquire the substantial 
qualities of the housewife ; and to put them on guard against 
frivolous and dangerous inclinations." 



480. Needle-work. — Even in the maternal school, after 
having been initiated into the little kindergarten exercises 
(weaving, folding, plaiting), the little girl will be trained 
in little tasks of knitting. 

The weaving consists in doing with a warp and woof of 
paper a work analogous to that of a weaver. 

The folding consists in giving different forms to a square 
piece of paper. 

481. Domestic Sewikg. — Doubtless we must not over- 
look the exercises in embroidery, tapestry, lace-making, fine 
sewing, and fancy work, which are carried on in a great 
number of schools ; but what is even more important, and 
what should be encouraged above all else, is work of current 
use, simple, ordinary work, which gives proof of a wholly 
practical purpose, and which does not aim at passing beyond 
the requirements of ordinary domestic needs. A single word 
is suflficieut to characterize what the sewing in the common 
school ought to be: "Domestic Sewing." Official instruc- 
tions have often been given that no work in sewing shall be 
done in the school which is not required for household use 
in particular. 

Let us add that it is less important to have the child pro- 
duce fine pieces of work at once, than to put her in a 
condition to use her fingers with agility and skill in her 



442 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

future work. M. Grcard thinks that some entertaining 
reading ought to talce place while the pupils are devoting 
themselves to manual labor. He demands besides that we 
distinguisli the labor of the workshop, which emploj's 
children rather than trains them, — the "workshop" de- 
riving advantage from its products, and the products being 
as much more valuable as the same operations are always 
intrusted to the same hands which have here acquired a 
marvelous dexterity, — from the teaching of the school, 
which requires all its pupils to pass through the progressive 
series of all the useful exercises. 

482. Abuses of Manual Labor. — For our part we 
cannot consent to quote as models to be fctlowed the 
schools where the teacher has her pupils do work in sewing 
which she sells at the ordinary price, and tlien divides the 
proceeds among the ciiildren.^ This spirit of gain and 
these commercial habits are not in keeping in a school. 

From this point of view, Madame Pape-Carpantier has 
vigorously denounced the abuse of manual labor in the case 
of children. 

" No ; the child cannot fairly become a producer, — that is to 
say, have something to dispose of, except after havuig previ- 
ously acquired all that he needs within himself and for him- 
self. Does the silk-worm spin before having been nourished 
on the leaves whence she draws her precious web? Must not 
the child, like the earth, be cultivated before producing? And 
what can a child produce at an age when everything in him 
is frail, tender, and still filled with maternal milk? I have 
been told what he produces : ' A few cents a day.' A few 
cents ! Is such a revenue indispensable ? And how is the 
child made to produce such a wretched pittance? By making 
him perform the function of a lovv-pri«ed instrument ; by con- 

1 See M. Vincent, Cours de pe'dayugie, p. 270. 



THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 443 

straining his young turbulence to exercise only certain muscles; 
to execute only such movements as he will have to repeat every 
day of liis life ; by developing to excess in him the force 
which is needed by his trade, to the detriment of those which 
he has no oceassion for; and finally, by breaking without scruple, 
in those young organizations, that equilibrium, that balance of 
forces, which is the very power and the most admirable mani- 
festation of God in the universe." 

483. Domestic Economy. — Sewing is not the only oc- 
cupation of the household now, consequently the only item 
in the school apprenticeship of girls, with respect to manual 
labor. Ideas on domestic economy in general, with the 
practical exercise connected with them, ought also to form 
a part of their elementary instruction. 

" Why is not the common school which receives the daughter 
of the laborer practical enough to descend to the teaching, appar- 
ently so undignified, but so fruitful in hygienic and even in moral 
I'esults, of the cost of alimentation or of cooking, if we must 
call it by its proper name ? " 

By way of illustration, here is the programme followed in 
the schools of Belgium, for instruction in domestic economy : 

1. Conditions necessary for a healthy home. Ventilation. 
Cleanliness. 

2. Furniture and its care. 

3. Warming and lighting. 

4. Washing. The use of soap and of liquid chlorides. Re- 
moval of grease. 

5. Care of linen, bed-clothing, and garments. 

6. Practical suggestions as to alimentation, quality of foods, 
and their preservation. 

7. General instruction as to culinary preparation. 

8. Drinks. 

1 F. Cadet. 



444 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

9. Kitchen closets. 

10. Toilet of young people. 

11. Family receipts and expenses. 

In a programme so extended there are doubtless some 
unnecessary items ; hut in a general way, instruction in 
domestic economy ought to bear on these different subjects. 

484. Conclusion. — "We have now reached the limit of 
our studies on the different parts of the programme for the 
common schools. In order to sum up their general spirit we 
cannot do better than reproduce in this place one or two 
pages from M. Greard. 

" If such is the aim of common-school instruction, it is evi- 
dent ttiat its value depends mainly upon its method, and the 
method which is best adapted to it may be described in a few 
words. 

" Shun all written tasks which give a false direction to in- 
struction on the pretense of raising its character, such as com- 
plicated and curious specimens of penmanship, inordinate 
transcripts of lectures, written tables of analyses and conjuga- 
tions, definitions that are not understood; be sparing in pre- 
cepts, but multiply examples ; never forget that the best book 
for the child is the speaking voice of the teacher; use his 
memory, .so supple and sure, only as a point of support, and 
proceed in such a way that your instruction penetrate to kis 
intelligence, which can alone preserve its fruitful impress ; lead 
the pupil from the simple to the complex, from the easy to 
the difficult, from the application to the principle ; conduct 
him by well-connected questions to discover what you wish to 
show him ; habituate him to reason, make him discover, make 
him see ; — in a word, keep his reason incessantly in motion, 
his intelligence on the alert. For this purpose leave nothing 
obscure which deserves explanation, push demonstrations even 

1 M. Greard, L'Instruction primaire a Paris de 1872. 



THE OTHER EXERCISES OF THE SCHOOL. 445 

to the material representation of things whenever it is pos- 
sible; in each subject disengage from the confused facts 
which encumber the intelligence the characteristic facts and 
the simple rules which illumine it; in every subject wind 
up with judicious applications, useful or moral ; in reading, 
for example, draw from the selection read all the instructive 
explanations, and all the advice bearing on conduct which 
it permits ; in grammar, start from the example in order to 
reach the rule divested of the subtilties of grammatical 
scholastics ; choose the texts for written dictation exercises 
from among the simplest and purest selections in classical 
works ; draw the subjects of oral exercises, not from col- 
lections constructed at pleasure to complicate the difficulties 
of language, but from matters of current interest, from an 
incident in the school, from the lessons of the day, from 
passages in sacred history, in the history of France, or in 
a recent lesson in geography ; invent examples before the 
eyes of the pupil to sharpen his attention ; let him invent 
them himself and always record them on the blackboard ; 
reduce all arithmetical operations to practical exercises bor- 
rowed from the usages of life ; teacli geography only from 
the map by gradually extending the child's horizon from the 
street to the quarter, from the quarter to the commune, to 
the canton, to the department, to France, to the world ; ani- 
mate the topographical description of places by picturing the 
peculiarities of configuration which they present, by explain- 
ing the natural and industrial productions which are peculiar 
to them, and by recalling the events which remind us of 
them; in history give to the different epochs an attention cor- 
responding with their relative importance, and traverse the 
first centuries more rapidly in order to dwell on those which 
are more directly related to us ; sacrifice without scruple 
details of pure erudition in order to throw into relief the 
broad lines of national development ; look for the sequel of 
this development, less in the succession of wars than in the 
rational concatenation of institutions, in the progress of social 
ideas, in the conquests of the mind which are the true con- 
quests of Christian civilization ; place before the child's eyes 



446 . PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

men and things through paintings which enlarge his imagi- 
nation and elevate his soul ; make of France what Pascal 
said of humanity, a grand being who subsists perpetually, and 
by this means give the child an idea of his country, of the 
duties which she imposes, of the sacrifices which she requires. 
Such ought to be the spirit of the lessons of the school." 



CHAPTEE XI. 

REWARDS AND PUNISHRIENTS. 

485. School Discipline. — Discipline is that part of 
education which, on the one hand, immediately assui-es the 
industry of pupils by maintaining good order in the school 
and exciting their zeal, and which, on the other hand, 
working for a more remote and higher purpose, prevents or 
represses irregularities of conduct and tends to train resolute 
wills and energetic characters capable of self-control. It 
has the double purpose of estalilishing the actual government 
of the school and of teaching [)upils to govern themselves 
when they shall have left the school and escaped the tutelage 
of their masters. 

486. Means of Discipline. — The means of discipline are 
as various as the instincts of human nature. Children may 
be led by very different mol)iles, which are connected witli 
three or four principal groups: 1. The personal feelings, 
as fear, pleasure, and self-love : 2. The affectionate senti- 
ments, as the love of parents and affection for the teacher ; 
3. Reflective interest, such as the fear of punishment and 
the hope of reward ; 4. The idea of duty. 

To tell the truth, none of these principles ought to he ex- 
cluded from the internal government of scliools. It would 
be unwise to forego the precious re^urces which each of 
these mobiles furnishes the teacher for securing silence, 
order, and attention, for encouraging ardor in toil, for cor- 

447 



448 rRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

reeling the faults and developing the good qualities of his 
pupils. Doubtless the ideal would be that the child, con- 
scious of his interest and comprehending his dut}', should 
work and obey thi'ough a disinterested act of his own will ; 
but the nature of the child does not yield to this pure 
regime of a liberty enlightened and ti'uly mistress of itself. 
Even the mature man is not always capable of self-direction 
through the idea of right alone ; he needs the stimulants of 
emulation, the solicitation of pleasures, and the salutar}' 
fear of the laws. Then do not require of the child an effort 
which surpasses his powers, but in order to discipline him, 
appeal in turn to the different inclinations of his soul. 

Means of discipline consist precisely in acting on these in- 
clinations ; tliey call into play the springs of activity. The 
best are those which interest the gx'eatest number of feelings 
at the same time, and which are supported by the greatest 
number of ideas. There could be nothing worse than a 
system of exclusive discipline which tended to develop but 
a single emotion, as fear, or self-love, or affection itself. 

487. Emulation. — Of all the principles of action which 
make scholars studious and classes orderly, there is none 
more powerful than emulation. It is to emulation that is due 
the efflcac}' of rewards, and it is emulation above all which 
animates the school and gives it the spirit of industrj'. As 
a disciplinary motive, emulation owes its superiority mainly 
to its complex character and to the multiplicity of the feel- 
ings which it puts in train. 

488. Definition of Emulation. — Emulation, like all 
the feelings of the soul, is a thing difficult to define. There 
enter into it different elements which disturb its simplicity, 
the analysis of which is difficult. Emulation is above all a 
personal feeling based on self-love. It miglit be defined 



REWAEDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 449 

self-love in act, which is not satisfied with the advantages it 
already has, but wislies to acquire new ones. By its nature it 
resembles ambition or the desire for glor}' ; but it is an ambi- 
tion whicli has reference to others, which is a rival with 
concurrent ambitions, which aspires to success, not for the 
success itself, but for the purpose of sui'passing others. 

489. The Different Elements of Emulation. — 
Certain educators are wrong in confounding emulation with 
the instinct of imitation. Doubtless the emulous man the more 
often imitates his rivals ; but often he also wishes to do 
differently from them for the purpose of doing better. We 
do not deny that imitation plays an important part in 
emulation ; but it does not constitute the basis of it, and is 
but one of the means which emulation employs to reach its 
ends. 

Although composed cliiefly of self-love, emulation is still 
not a desire exclusivel}' personal and selfish. "When it is what 
it ought to be, a noble and spirited sentiment, there is alwaj^s 
mingled with it a secret aspiration towards what is good, 
something of a pure love of perfection. Of course the 
emulous man wishes above all else to equal or surpass his 
competitors, but he also pursues an ideal. In every case the 
duty of the teacher ought to be to develop emulation in this 
direction, by diverting it from its selfish tendencies, in order 
to direct it towards the pursuit of the good. 

Diderot clearly defined the double nature of emulation, 
without neglecting to throw into relief the predominance of 
self-love, when he said : ^ 

"Emulation is not exactly the desire to do tlie best that is 
possible, — that would be a pure virtue; but it is the desire 
to do better than others, which approaches vanity. Notwith- 

1 See especially the article Emulation, in the Dictionnaire de pedagogie. 



450 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

standing this defective side, it is none the less the source of 
the most beautiful things in society. Superiority is a general 
inclination. The most active pleasure is that of glory; the 
thing is to present to it estimable objects ; and self-love will 
always be the greatest resource in a civilized land." 

490. Emulation in the History of Pedagogy. — In 
all times emulation has been known and commended as one 
of the essential means of discipline. At Sparta it may be 
said that emulation was pushed even to fanaticism ; prefer- 
ence was given to him who was the most courageous, the 
most temperate, the most insensible to pain. At Athens 
how emulous was Themistocles, whose sleep was troubled 
by the laurels of Miltiades ! Rabelais said of his model 
preceptor, that he introduced Gargantua to a company of 
learned men, " to emulate whom inspired him with the spirit 
and the desire to do valiantly." It is well known that 
Bossuet, in order to counteract the indolence of the Dau- 
phin, made him compete with the children of his own 
age. "Emulation," says Fenelon, "is a spur to virtue." 
According to Locke, all is done, everything is gained, 
when we have stirred the pupil's spirit of emulation ! 
Rousseau, who isolates Emile and allows him no compan- 
ions, wishes at least that his pupil should find a rival in 
himself, and so invents a sort of personal emulation. And 
in an article in the Enryclopcfdia he wrote as follows : 
" Emulation is a disposition dangerous to the truth, Init 
education can transform it into a sublime virtue." Rollin 
would have us appeal to the reason of childi-en, stimulate 
tlie sense of honor, and make use of praise, rewards, 
and caresses. 

1 " There is," says M. Feuillet, " in solitary education a species of 
emulation, or rather an image of emulation, which is the result of 
the comparison which one is led to make of himself with himself; 
and hence arises the desire to surpass one's self." 



EEWAKDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 451 

" Children," he says, " are senaible to praise. We must take 
advantage of this weakness, and try to make a virtue of it. 
We would run the risk of discouraging them, if we never 
praised them when they did well. Though praise is to be feared 
on the score of vanity, we must try to make use of it to ani- 
mate children without enervating them. For of all the motives 
adapted to touch a reasonable soul, there are none more pow- 
erful than honor and shame ; and when children have been 
made sensible to thein, all has been gained.'* 

Madame Campau declared that "emulation constituted 
the strength of public education." It there reigns over 
young minds, directs them toward the good, and does no 
harm to the generous sentiments of the heart and soul. 

491. Emulation in a Democracy. — It is useless to pro- 
long this historical review, for it would almost always lead 
to the same result, a more or less complete approval of the 
use of emulation in discipline. Let us merely add, that 
in a democratic society like our own, at a time when it is 
necessary to summon millions of children to exertion, 
emulation becomes more and more important. This has 
been forcibly expressed by M. Feuillet. 

" Emulation was formerly but the worst species of ambition ; 
its purpose was to reach the highest places to which only a 
small number of subjects could have access. In this way em- 
ulation was concentrated instead of being extended. ... It 
ought to be otherwise in a republic. ... It is felt that the 
main purpose of education can no longer be to obtain a 
small number of exceptional but superior men, but that its 
essential purpose is to train that immense majority of good, 
wise, and useful citizens who, in all the places wliere circum- 
stances have carried them, unite to form what is called the 
state. The methods of education then necessarily change 
with its purpose. Emulation is diffused, so to speak, so as 
to embrace all ranks and to bring all individuals under its 
influence." 



452 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

And Feuillei concludes as follows : 

^^ Equality, and by a necessary consequence reciprocal depend- 
ence and general emulation, are the conditions to which the 
happiness of men is invariably attached in all the circum- 
stances composing the state of society; and consequently 
these are the conditions which ought to be provided for by 
the education that is alone good and true, that which trains 
citizens." ^ 

492. Error of those who condemn Emulation. — The 
educators who condemn emulation deceive themselves on 
two points. On the one hand they have too great a dis- 
trust of human nature ; in their eyes the feeling of self- 
love is like a poisonous stock which can bear only evil fruit ; 
they think that to favor emulation is by a necessary con- 
sequence surely to engender envy, jealous rivalry, and 
malevolence. 

We must reply to them, with La Bruyere, " that, whatever 
connection there may seem to be between jealousy and 
emulation, thei'e is between them the same distance that is 
found between vice and virtue. Emulation is an energetic, 
courageous sentiment, which renders the soul fruitful, makes 
it protit by great examples, and often carries it above that 
which it admires." 

On the other hand, by a contrary illusion to forego the 
aid of emulation is to count too much on the powers of the 
human soul, and to believe that the child can be excited to 
exertion by purely disinterested motives, by the simple idea 
of the duty to be performed, without the need of calling into 
play his personal instincts. This is to forget what Pascal 
said : 

" The children of Port Royal are falling into indifference 
through default of ambition." 

1 M. Feuillot, Mtitnoire sur I'tiutilalion, crowned by the Institute in 
1801. 



REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 453 

493. Rocks to Shun. — The educators who exclude emu- 
latiou have pointed out the rocks on which we are liable 
accidentally to fall when we make a bad use of it, but have 
not been so successful in discovering the irremediable dangers 
to which all those who employ it are inevitably exposed. 

The charges they bring against emulation are the follow- 
ing : " 1. The attention of children is turned aside from the 
thought of duty and is fixed on the reward. 2. Children 
are made to honor success rather than merit. 3. The vanity 
of some is unduly excited, while the others are forever 
humiliated and discouraged. 4. Hatred and jealousy among 
companions is provoked. 5. There is contracted for life the 
detestable habit of seeking for distinction, of striving for the 
highest place, of seeking honors, and of not being contented 
with a modest position and an obscure tranquillity." 

As a fact, these disadvantages may result from emulation, 
badly conceived and directed ; but they will be shunned with- 
out much difticulty by a skillful teacher, who will take care 
not to materialize enmlation, not to take account merely of 
the material qualities of his pupils, who will not make a 
misuse of artificial rewards, who will know how to reassure 
the conquered and prevent them from feeling too keeul}'^ the 
bitterness of their defeat, at the same time that he will recall 
the conquerors to a sense of modesty ; who, in a word, will 
not give too great attention to the spring of emulation, and 
will not allow it to fall into the dangerous over-excitement of 
ambition. 

494. Rewards. — When we admit emulation as a principle 
of discipline we at the same time admit rewards. In fact, 
rewards are the best means of vivifying and animating the 
feeling of emulation. However desirous we may be that the 
child shall actually find the best of rewards in the feeling of 
a duty done or in the consciousness of his progress, it would 



454 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

be folly to deprive ourselves of the aid which might come to 
discipliue from rewards skillfully chosen aud discreetly dis- 
tributed. 

495. Different Species of Rewards. — But there are 
rewards and rewards. They vary especially according to 
the nature of the feelings which they aim at and which they 
affect in the child. For example, they are sometimes ad- 
dressed only to the affectionate sentiments, as endearments ; 
or they flatter self-love and the desire of approbation, like 
praise ; or they respond only to the lower tastes of the sensi- 
bility, like dainties ; or, finally, they awaken the selfish in- 
stincts, like prizes. Let us add that these different elements 
may be confounded in the rewards that are given, and that iu 
order to estimate their educative value it is necessary to take 
a strict account of the character of the different feelings 
which they excite. 

496. Sensible Rewards. — We must absolutely proscribe 
purely material rewards, which are not permissible save with 
very young children, who may l)e influenced by the allure- 
ment of sweetmeats. As soon as possible the child ought 
to be accustomed to seek the reward of his toil and his 
efforts in the satisfaction of his higher inclinations. 

497. Praise and Commendation. — " The best rewards," 
says M. Rendu, '' are those which, divested of material value, 
call iuto play the delicate sentiments without exciting any 
idea of personal interest." Of this sort are the words of 
approbation aud the commendation of the teacher. They 
excite the feeling of honor. They are, moreover, as much the 
more efficacious as the teacher has been able to make himself 
loved and respected by his pupils. In a school where the 
teacher's authority is firmly established, and where the pupils 



REWARDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 455 

have self-love, the rewards may be reduced to commen- 
dations. But care must be taken to employ this means only 
with caution, for fear of exciting pride and vanity. 

" Tlie schoolmaster's means of reward is chiefly confined 
to approbation or praise, a great and flexible instrument, yet 
needing delicate manipulation. Some kinds of merit are so 
palpable as to be described by numerical marks. Equal, in 
point of distinctness, is the fact that a thing is right or wrong, 
in part or in whole; it is sufficient ajiprobation to pronounce 
that a question is correctly answered, a passage properly ex- 
plained. This is the praise that envy cannot assail. Most 
unsafe are phrases of commendation ; much care is required to 
make them both discriminating and just. They need to have 
a palpable basis in facts. Distinguished merit should not al- 
ways be attended with p?eans; silent recognition is the rule, 
the exceptions must be such as to extort admiration from the 
most jealous. The controlling circumstance is the presence of 
the collective body ; the teacher is not speaking for himself 
alone, but directing the sentiments of a nmltitude, with which 
he should never be at variance ; his strictly private judgments 
should be privately conveyed." ^ 

498. Other Rewards. — In general, rewards ought to 
be but the exterior signs of the teacher's approbation. 

Of this description are good marks, place in class ac- 
cording to records of recitations, certificates of approval, 
inscription on the roll of honor, prizes. Some teachers also 
recounuend medals and decorations. 

499. The Distribution of Prizes. — "We cannot too much 
encourage the custom, recently introduced into the common 
schools, of formal distribution of prizes. 

" Many common Kchools," said the ministerial circular of 
1864, "have no celebration at the end of the year, where 



1 Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 113, 114. 



456 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

good conrlnct and industry are pviblicly rewarded. The result 
is that we find in these schools but little emulation, and 
that a part of the pupils desert them for a portion of the 
year. It were well, however, that each village should have 
its annual celebration for children and their work. The ex- 
pense involved would be small, and if this could not be met 
by public tax, individuals, I am sure, would think it an honor 
to bear it. It will not be difficult for you to persuade the 
proper officers of each department that the money spent on 
children is, from every point of view, the money invested at 
a high rate of interest." 

"I am firm in the belief," says another circular, "that 
this custom would be excellent, on the express condition that 
the prizes shall be distributed with discretion, so as to be 
given only to the most deserving pupils." 

500. Punishments. — Punishments are based on almost 
the same principles as rewards. Rewards appeal mainly to 
the feeling of honor or to self-love. Punishments sometimes 
have the same character, — they tend to humiliate the pupil, 
to make him ashamed of his faults publicly denounced. 
But in general their purpose is to wound the sensibilities of 
the child by depriving him of things which he loves, just as 
rewards excite him by giving him what pleases him. 

501. Reprimands. — Just as praise and words of appro- 
bation are the best and the most convenient of rewards, 
so reprimands, censure, and tokens of disapproval are the 
promptest and the surest of punishments ; on condition, of 
course, that the children have previously been made sensitive 
to shame, and that they love and esteem their teacher. 

The very fact of revealing before companions a fault that 
has been committed, and that the cul])rit cannot deny, is in 
itself an effective punishment. There will be added to this, 
when the nature of the offence requires it, words of censure 
which will make the pupil blush. 



REWARHS AND PUNISHMENTS. 457 

The thing of most importance in the use of reprimands 
and censure is, first, not to make an over-use of them. 
Teachers who are always scolding finally cease to be heeded. 
If the reprimand becomes stale, if it is resorted to too 
frequently, it loses all its effect. In the second place, it 
must be exactly proportioned to the fault which it points out 
and which it proposes to correct. The teacher will no 
longer be respected if he does not exhibit the strictest spirit 
of justice in his words. Besides, the tone of the repri- 
mand ought always to be moderate, calm, and dignified. If 
the teacher loses his temper, his anger, as Mr. Bain remarks, 
is a real victoi-y for the bad pupils, even when it has inspu'ed 
them with a momentary fear. 

" Never correct a child," says Fenelon, " either in the 
first flush of his anger or of your own. If in yours, he 
sees that you are acting from passion or from impulse, and 
not from reason and affection, and you lose your authority 
without recall. If in his, he has not enough liberty of 
thought to acknowledge his fault, to conquer his passion, and 
to feel the importance of your advice ; it is even exposing 
the child to the risk of losing the respect he owes you. 
Always show him that you are your own master ; and 
nothing will better make him see this than your patience." 

502. Threats. — Before proceeding to actual punishment 
it is wise to warn the child of the consequences that will fol- 
low a repetition of liis fault. He must not be summarily 
punished, but must first be warned. But threats ought always 
to be followed by acts. The pupil laughs at a teacher 
who never goes further than words, who never executes his 
threat. 

503. Actual Punishments. — The penal code of the 
school contains many articles, especially if we study it in 
the ancient systems of education ; but with the progress in 
manners it has been gradually moderated. 



458 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

In the maternal schools the only punishments allowed ai-e 
the following : " Interdiction, for a very short time, of study 
and play in common; withdrawal of good marks.'* 

In the common schools the teacher ought to make use of 
the same punishments, — partial loss of recreation, keeping 
the pupil after school, suspension, or expulsion. 

Privation of recreation ought never to be of long duration. 
On the pretext of punishing the child, he should not he 
denied the rest and play which are as necessary for his 
physical health as for his intelligence. 

" Detention from play," says Mr. Bain, " or keeping in 
after hours, is very galling to the young ; and it ought to 
suffice for even serious offences, especially for riotous and 
unruly tendencies, for which it has all the merits of ' char- 
acteristicalness.' The excess of activity and aggressiveness is 
met by withholding the ordinary legitimate outlets." ^ 

The expulsion of the pupil is evidently an extreme remedy 
and a sort of confession of the weakness of the school dis- 
cipline ; but the fear of this punishment, if it has overtaken 
incorrigible pupils in one or two cases, is a very effective 
example for all the others. 

504. Tasks or Impositions. — A great abuse was for- 
merly made of j'tevstims, or supplementary tasks ; perhaps it 
has been a mistake to proscribe them absolutely. 

"Tasks or impositions," says Mr. Bain, "are the usual 
punishment of neglect of lessons, and are also employed for 
rebelliousness; the pain lies in the intellectual ennui, which 
is severe to those that have no liking for books in any 
shape. They also possess the ii-ksomeness of confinement 
and fatigue-drill. They may be superadded to shame, and 
the combination is a formidable penalty." ^ 

1 Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 115, 116. 
^ Bain, Educat/ion as a Science, p. 11(3. 



REWAEDS AND PUNISHMENTS. 459 

505. Corporal Punishments. — In France the regula- 
tions, as well as the manners, absolutely condemn the 
corporal chastisements which for so many centuries were 
comprised among the Icr/itima poenarum genera. Even 
Pestalozzi, the good and mild Pestalozzi, used and abused 
this mode of punishment, and had their use sanctioned by 
the unanimous consent of his pupils. In England public 
opinion is still generally favorable to corporal punishment, 
and it is sanctioned by Mr. Bain. 

" Where corporal punishment is kept up, it should be at 
the far end of tlie list of penalties; its slightest application 
should be accounted the worst disgrace, and should be ac- 
companied with stigmatizing forms. It should be regarded 
as a deep injury to the person that inflicts it, and to those 
that have to witness it, as the height of shame and infamy. 
It ought not to be lepeated with the same pupil ; if two 
or three applications are not enough, removal is the proper 
course." i 

We shall not enter upon this casuistry of corporal chastise- 
ments. They must be absolutely forbidden, and in every 
case, because, as Locke says, they constitute a servile dis- 
cipline which renders souls servile. 

506. General Rules. — Whatever may be the punish- 
ment employed, it will always be necessary to follow some 
general principles. 

First, let the punishment always be accommodated to the 
fault connnitted, and also to the sensibility of the culprit. 
A given pupil may be profoundly affected by a light punish- 
ment which will leave less sensitive pupils absolutely 
unaffected. 

Punishment should not be employed lavishly ; repetition 

^ Bain, Education as a Science, pp. 116, 117. 



460 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

soon destroys its efficacy, and there is nothing good to be 
expected of a child hardened by punishment. " Carefully 
avoid punishing all the faults of your girls," said Madame de 
Maintenon ; '' the punishments would become common, and 
would no longer produce an impression." 

Penalties should be carefully graduated. " It is a rule in 
punishment," says Mr. Bain, "to try slight penalties at 
first. With the better natures the mere idea of punishment 
is enough ; severity is entirely unnecessary." 

Special efforts should Jje made to establish in the child's 
mind an intimate relation between the penalty and the wrong 
that has been done. For this purpose the punishment should, 
so far as possible, be connected with the fault. If a child 
has told a falsehood he should be humiliated by no longer 
believing his word ; if another is indiscreet, confidence is 
no longer placed in him ; if another is always quarreling, 
let him be shunned by his companions. In this way the 
punishment is better understood and is more effective, be- 
cause it seems to the child the natural consequence of his 
fault. 

507. The Discipline of Consequences. — In our day 
Herbert Spencer has popularized the system which consists 
in suppressing the whole machinery of artificial punishments, 
in order to leave a free field for the action of nature. The 
purpose is to make the child feel the consequences of the 
acts which he commits. What more striking punishment 
than these very consequences ! 

" All the punishments of himian invention are powerless. 
The only chastisements truly salutary are those which nature 
creates on the spot and applies. No threats, but a silent and 
rigorous execution. The hot coal burns him who touches it 
the first time ; it burns hiiu the second, a tliird time ; it 
burns him every time. There is nothing like this immediate, 



BE WARDS AND 1 U.MbllMtxN IS. -iGl 

direct, inevitable correction. Observe also that the penalty is 
always in proportion to the violation of the order of things, 
the reaction being in correspondence with the action ; and that 
it introduces along with it in the mind of the child the idea 
of justice, the chastisement being but an effect ; and finally, 
that there is no effect more certain. Universal language testi- 
fies to this. Experience dearly bought, bitter experience, is the 
great lesson, and the only one by which we profit." ^ 

508. Criticism of this System. — However seductive 
this doctrine of natural reactions may at first appear, it is 
evident, after reflection, that it could not suffice to consti- 
tute with respect to the correction and repression of faults, 
a system of school discipline. For a certain number of 
cases to which it may be usefully applied, how many others 
there are where it would be absolutely inefficient ! Let us 
admit, although it is not true, that every fault, every viola- 
tion of the order of nature, entails by a natural necessity 
a painful result. In most cases this will be but a remote 
consequence on long credit ; and the culprit will be a])le to 
repeat his faults thousands of times before the punishment 
flashes upon him. School delinquencies are for the most 
part of such a nature that the child has not to suffer imme- 
diately for being allowed to have his own way. Lack of 
application and indolence will compromise the entii'e life of 
a negligent scholar. Having become a man, he will repent 
at the age of thirty in an idle existence which he will be 
unable to employ to any good pm-pose, for having been an 
inattentive and an irregular pupil. But when he perceives 
the consequences of his indolence, it will be too late, — the 
evil will have been done. The punishment will doubtless be 
striking, pitiless, justly deserved. The culprit will be obliged 

1 We borrow this analysis of Mr. Spencer's opinion from M. Gre 
ard's Memoir siir I' Esprit de discipline dans I' education. 



462 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

to l)ow hefore it, as before an iuex(>ial)le but just fate. But 
the purpose of punishments is even more to prevent wrong 
and to Correct it in time, than to cause expiation for it in 
an exemplary way. 

509. Other Criticisms. — It would be easy to show that, 
from still other points of view, Mr. Spencer's theory is not in 
accord with the ideal punishment. 

" The pain produced by natural consequences," says M. Gre- 
ard, " is most often enormous with respect to the fault which 
has produced them ; and man himself claims for his conduct 
other penalties than those of a hard reality. He would have us 
judge the intention as well as the fact ; he would have us give 
him credit for his efforts; and would have us punish him, if 
need be, but without destroying him, and while reaching out a 
hand to lift him up." 

In a word, there is nothing more brutal, more inhuman, 
than the system which, suppressing all human intervention 
of the teaclier in the correction of the child, leaves to nature 
alone the task of cliastising him. Slow in certain cases, the 
justice of nature is often violent and murderous. Let us add, 
finally, that the system of natural consequences suppresses 
moral ideas, — the idea of obligation and duty. It con- 
fronts the child only with the blind and unconscious forces of 
necessity. And so Mr. Spencer does not hold to his theory 
to the end, but to the reactions of nature lie adds the re- 
actions of the feelings which manifest themselves through 
the esteem and the affection, or through the censure and the 
coolness of those wlio surround the cliild, and whom he 
loves. The discipline of nature can be but a preparation 
for the discipline of sentiments and ideas. 



CHAPTEE XII. 

DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 

510. Preventive Discipline. — Discipline does not de- 
pend merely on a system of rewards and punishments ex post 
facto, as so many sanctions to incite to the good or to divert 
from the evil. True discipline foresees and prevents, even 
more than it represses and rewards. In a well-organized 
school which satisfies certain material conditions, and in 
which the teacher fulfills certain moral conditions which as- 
sure his authority, it will hardly ever be necessary to resort 
to punishment, and rewards will appear rather as a disinter- 
ested act of justice than as a means of discipline. 

511. Material Conditions of Discipline. — All 
teachers know how much the regularity and system which 
they introduce into the exercises of the school facilitate their 
task and contribute to the good order of their class. Pesta- 
lozzi, who had so many moral qualifications, who possessed 
to such a high degree the art of making himself loved by 
children, who employed such devotion and zeal in the service 
of his pupils, was never able to establish an exact discipline, 
because he was lacking in method and taught in a disorderly 
manner, without subjecting Iiiinself to fixed rules for the 
length of his lessons and for the order of exercises ; in a 
word, for the distribution of his time. 

512. Distribution of Time. — "The distribution of 
time," says Rendu, "is the principal means of establishing 

4GS 



464 PKACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

discipline. . . . The question of discipline is in great part 
a question of instruction and method." 

Through the indications of the programme, which deter- 
mines at once the topics of instruction and the number of 
hours which it is advisable to give to each study in the three 
grades of the common school, the teacher is now guided in 
the distribution of his time, and no longer runs the risk of 
falling into mistakes. Let us add, however, that circum- 
stances, such as the requirements of time and place, the 
number and relative proficiency of pupils, ought, as between 
one school and another, to justify considerable differences. 
We are not of those who dream of an absolute uniformit}', 
and wish that at a given moment the millions of children who 
attend the schools of France should be engaged in the same 
exercise. 

" The ingenuity of an intelligent teacher ought not to be 
paralyzed by the rigid inflexibility of a scliedule. We do not 
assume to impose a time-table upon teachers, as a vise which 
binds them; we offer it to them as a rule to guide thein. 
Doubtless, in the domain of common-school instruction more 
than in any other sphei-e of teaching, there must be required 
regularity, exactness, and the spirit of system ; but here as 
everywhere else it is best to leave something to spontaneity, 
to personal reflection, and to free choice. We dread the 
absence of method, which leads to school anarchy ; but we 
detest the circumstantial tyranny whicli, sinking the man iu 
the master, gives to mechanical education the place due to 
intelligence." ^ 

513. General Principles for the Distribution op 
Time. — The distribution of time ought not merely to be 
regulated in advance by the teacher, but it ought to be 
brought to the knowdedge of the pupils by schedules posted 
in each class-room. 

1 E. Kendu, Manuel, p. 32. 



DISCIPLINE IN GENEKAL. 465 

Without describing in detail the distribution of study hours 
and of the different topics of instruction, we will state the 
general principles which result from all that we have said in 
the preceding chapters. 

1. Each section ougiit to be engaged in several differ- 
ent exercises. With the pupils of the common school, in 
particular, we must renounce prolonged lessons uix)n the 
same subject. Such lessons are not possible, save in the 
higher classes of the colleges or in the courses of higher 
instruction. 

2. Each session ought to be interrupted, either by the 
ordinary recess or by marching and singing. 

3. In schools taught by one master, the teacher will each 
day come into direct communication with all his pupils, and 
consequently with each one of the three grades. Hence the 
necessity of collective lessons, which may bear on certain 
parts of history, of morals, etc. 

4. Each item in the' programme ought each day to have 
its share in the exercises of the school. None of them ought 
to be sacrificed, even if but a few minutes can be devoted to 
some of them. 

5. The most difficult exercises, those which require the 
most attention, ought by preference to come in the early 
part of the day. 

6. The length of each lesson and of each exercise should 
not as a rule exceed twenty or thirty minutes. 

7. Every lesson, every lecture, should be accompanied by 
oral explanations and interrogations. 

8. The correction of tasks and the repetition of lessons 
take place during the periods assigned to these tasks and 
lessons. According to the rule the tasks are corrected at 
the blackboard at the same time that the note-books 
are inspected. The compositions are corrected by the 
teacher out of school hours. 



466 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

514. Classification of Pupils. — That which hinders 
the maintenance of discipline as well as the progress of 
pu]^)ils, is that b}' the very necessity of things there are 
united in the same class pupils very unequal in age, in 
degree of instruction, and in intellectual development. 
Disorder is almost the necessar}'^ result of this disproportion 
and of these inequalities. Nothing is more important, con- 
sequently, than the classification of pupils. 

"Each year, at the opening of school," says the official 
order of 1882, "the pupils, according to the degree of their in- 
struction, shall be distributed by the director in the different 
classes of the three grades under the supervision of the 
primary inspector." 

This rule is applicable not only to large schools having 
several teachers, but also to schools with one teacher. And 
even in the latter the classification ought to be even more 
exact if it be possible, because the one teacher, obliged to 
distril)ute his time among the three grades, ought to be able 
to depend a little more either upon the initiative of pupils or 
upon the aid of some intelligent monitors. 

515. Consequences from the Disciplinary Point of 
View. — Who does not see that discipline will gain from a 
school organization regulated in this si)irit? Invited to an 
instruction which responds exactly to his powers and to his 
needs, sustained by the variety of the exercises, reanimated 
by frequent recreations, always subjected to an invariable 
rule which he knows, never remaining uncmplo3^ed, instructed 
in advance with reference to what he ouglit to do at the dif- 
ferent hours of the day, the pupil will find himself in the best 
conditions for working with order and profit. 

510. Necessity of Vigorous Supervision. — Formal 
rules, however, are not sufficient. The pupil is not yet 



DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 467 

sufficiently master of himself, sufficiently energetic and well- 
disposed, to follow spontaneously the course that has been 
traced for him liy a carefully arranged programme. There 
must be taken into account the weaknesses of will and the 
thoughtlessness of early age, and the dissipation, indolence, 
and ill-will common to masses of children. The execu- 
tion of the laws of the school is dependent on the vigilant eye 
of the master. How much easier tlie discipline becomes with 
an active teacher who observes all the movements of his 
pupils, who watches their dispositions, who stops by a word 
or a look the beginning of a conversation, who reanimates the 
attention at the moment when it begins to flag, who, in a 
word, always present in the four corners of the class-room, 
is, so to speak, the living soul of the school. 

517. The Teacher's Duties out of School. — But 
the vigilance and solicitude of a good teacher do not cease 
at the threshold of the school ; they ought to follow the pupil 
even into the family, and accompany liim in a certain 
measure on the road which leads him from the school to the 
home. He may discreetly inform himself of what children 
do when they have reached home, and how they conduct 
themselves in the streets or on the roads. Tln-ough the 
influence which he will discreetly exert upon the conduct of 
his pupils outside of the school, he will assure their correct 
deportment and the silence and order of the school-room 
itself. Children who are too wild at home, or who have been 
too disorderly on the streets, have great difficult}' when the 
bell rings to become by an instantaneous transformation 
attentive and quiet pupils. 

By the personal lal>or which he will impose upon himself, 
the teacher will also contribute to the maintennnce of good 
discipline in the school. A well-prepared lesson is worth 
much more than punishments for gaining the attention of 



468 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

the scholars. "When the teacher reaches his desk, well 
kuowiug what he ought to do and what he ought to say ; 
wheu wholly pervaded by his subject he cau pursue las 
thought without effort, he will first have that assurance that 
he will more easily interest his auditors and that he will more 
surely conduct them to the desired end ; and at the same time, 
relieved from the anxiety of hunting up his ideas and his 
words, and of organizing his class on the spur of the moment 
and by a sort of improvisation, he will the more easily be 
able to survey his little auditory, to be all things to all, and 
to let nothing escape that is incorrect or abnormal in the 
conduct of his pupils. 

Let us add that in order to assure the discipline so far as 
the pupils' diligence and exactness of works are concerned, 
the industry of the teacher is particularly necessary. The 
child of the best intentions is discouraged if the written 
exercises which he has prepared with the greatest care are 
never corrected. It is not merely because the faults which 
he has allowed to pass are proofs of his ignorance, that the 
lack of correction is mischievous, but mainly because the 
negligence of the teacher emboldens and partly excuses 
the negligence of the pupil. 

518. Co-operation of Teachers with Parents. — The 
best of teachers can do nothing in the matter of discipline 
without the co-operation of parents. "There is no system 
of education so poor," says Greard, "as not to improve in 
quality by the intervention of tlie family, and none so good 
that it cannot gain by it." Rollin regarded the participa- 
tion of parents in all that concerns moral development as 
one of the essential factors in the internal government of 
colleges. What is true of secondary instruction is also 
true of primary instruction. It is necessary, then, that the 
teacher should be in constant communication with the 



DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 469 

families, that he keep them regularly informed as to the work 
and progress of their children, and that he bring their faults 
to their notice. Hence the utilit}^ of reports to parents. 
Happy the teachers who can co-operate with parents and in- 
duce them to second their efforts and to supervise the lessons 
wliich are to be learned and the tasks that are to be written. 
From this poinfof view, the lessons assigned for home study, 
besides compelling the pupil to work more than the thirty 
hours required in the school, have this advantage, that they 
oblige parents to interest themselves in the studies of their 
children. But home lessons ought to be easy, and should not 
require the formal machinery which cannot be realized in 
most families. 

" Home duties," savs M. Greard, " ought to be adapted, as 
the others are, not only to the very limited time which pupils 
have at their disposal after school, but also and above all to 
the intensity of the effective efforts which the pupil can make. 
1 am not ignorant of tlie fact that in assigning these lessons 
our teachers sometimes do no more than respond to the de- 
mands of parents who fear the lack of occupation in the 
evening, and who estimate work by the quantity of paper that 
is used. But we ought not to yield to unintelligent desires. 
It is doubtless well that the pupils of the higher grade should 
be occupied at home in the evening. Let them engage in the 
reading of history and geography, in reproducing the explana- 
tion of wordij taken from a lesson in grammar, or in solving 
some problems in arithmetic. This is all well, but on the ex- 
press condition that these exercises offer no difficulty which 
repels the child left to himself, and that they be connected 
with a lesson on which his memory is fresh, and particularly 
that they be short." 

519. Moral Influence of the Family. — That which 
the teacher ought particularly to demand of the family is 
that it should not dissipate his own efforts, that it should 



470 PEACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

not contravene his instructions, but that it should add its own 
more secret, more intimate, more personal action to that 
which he exerts himself. 

" We have the right to expect much from the active co- 
operation of parents, however little they may desire it. We 
are not ignorant of the difficulties and obstacles which their 
perspicacity may encounter. We make allowance for illusions 
and weaknesses. By reason of their very affection, they are 
in danger of entertaining too high hopes and of despairing, too 
quickly. The cool and disinterested judgment of a teacher is 
often necessary to re-establish moderation. And who is nearer 
the heart of the child than father and mother ? Who can 
better take into account his instinctive propensities and his 
nascent passions ; separate his good qualities from his bad ; 
in his departures from duty distinguish the swooning or 
transient revolt of radical weakness from obstinate resistance ? 
Who better knows his sensibility, and how to excite it when 
necessary ; to subject him, according to circumstances, to the 
necessities which arise, and to make him triumph over the 
difficulties which pertain only to himself ? Who can better 
follow the crises which arrest or hasten his development? In 
a word, who is better fitted to treat him in all his trans- 
formations according to his temperament, and give him the 
moral regime that is best for him ? " ^ 

520. Moral Conditions of Discipline. — The co-oper- 
ation of teachers and parents proceeding in concert, hand in 
hand, to correct the faults of children and to develop their 
virtues, is in itself one of the moral conditions of discipline. 

Another condition is the character of the teacher, his 
authority, his moral power. What is true of programmes 
and methods in instruction is also true of rules in discipline, 
— their value is given to them by those who apply them. It 
is at this point that we must always start, whether we have 

1 M. Greard, Memoir sur I'esprit de discipline. 



DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 471 

to do with the internal government of schools or with that 
of other human institutions. Begin by having men, and all 
the rest will be given to you to boot. 

521. Qualities of a Good Teacher. — Treatises on 
pedagogy draw up long catalogues of the qualities of a good 
teacher. We do not propose in this place to present one of 
these catalogues in which the pedagogic virtues are num- 
bered, and which require the teachers to have ten or a dozen 
of them, more or less. The moral education of a teacher 
has nothing to gain from these fastidious nomenclatures. 
We shall simply sav that the best teacher is he who has to 
the highest degree the disposal of intellectual and moral 
qualities ; he who on the one hand has the most knowledge, 
method, clearness, and vivacity of exposition, and on the 
other is the most energetic, the most devoted to his task, the 
most attached to his duties, and at the same time has most 
affection for his pupils. 

It would be easy to show that each of these qualities or 
virtues is an element of discipline. 

A teacher whose knowledge is not questioned, who is 
never obscure in his lessons, who speaks with exactness, will 
always be listened to with respect. 

A teacher whose every act is known to be inspired by love 
for his pupils, has only to speak to be obeyed. He will 
govern by persuasion. 

Especially a firm teacher, who possesses the serenity of 
conscious power, will inspire his pupils with a salutary re- 
spect which will make it impossible for them to fail in their 
tasks. 

In discussing the law of 1833, Guizot stated the principal 
qualities which he expected of a teacher in the new schools, 
as follows : 

" All our efforts and all our sacrifices will be useless, if 



472 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

we do not succeed in finding for the reconstructed public 
school a competent teacher worthy of the noble mission of 
instructing the people. It cannot be too often repeated that 
as is the teacher so is the school. And what a happy union 
of qualities is necessary to make a good school-master ! A 
good school-master is a man who ought to know much more 
than he teaches, in order to teach with intelligence and zeal; 
who ought to live in an humble sphere, and who nevertheless 
ought to have an elevated soul in order to preserve that dig- 
nity of feeling and even of manner without which he will 
never gain the respect and confidence of families ; who ought 
to possess a rare union of mildness and firmness, for he is 
the inferior of many people in a commune. But he ought 
to be the degraded servant of no one ; not ignorant of his 
rights, but thinking much more of his duties; giving an ex- 
ample to all, serving all as an adviser ; above all, not 
desiring to withdraw from his occupation, content with his 
situation because of the good he is doing in it, resolved to 
live and die in the bosom of the school, in the service of 
common-school instruction, which is for him the service of 
God and of men. To train teachers who approach such a 
model is a difficult task ; and yet we nuist succeed in it, 
or we have done nothing for common-school instruction. A 
bad school-master, like a bad cure or a bad mayor, is a 
scourge to a commune. We are certainly very often com- 
pelled to content ourselves with ordinary teachers, but we 
must try to train better ones, and for this purpose primary 
normal schools are indispensable." 

522. Importance of Physical Qualifications. — The 
physical qualities of the teacher are not themselves to be 
despised as an instrument of discipline. Form, physiognomy, 
and voice play their part in well-conducted schools. It is 
useless to insist on those qualities which depend wholly on 
nature ; but what an earnest purpose can control are the 
general bearing of the body, the appearance of the face, and 
gestures. 



DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 473 

"Never assume without an extreme necessity," said Fenelon, 
"an austere and imperious air, which makes children trem- 
ble. Often it is affectation and pedantry in those who 
govern." 

Without requiring, as Fenelon wished, that the teacher 
should always have a smiling and jovial face, it is especially 
important that he be generally amiable and affectionate, and 
that he shun pedantry and despotic ways. 

523. Moral Authority of the Teacher. — But phy- 
sical qualities are of little account compared with moral 
qualities, which are the principal element of authority. By 
dint of patience, energy, and activity, a teacher, even 
l)hysically uncomely, may acquire a real ascendancy over his 
pupils. The teacher is not truly worthy of his name of 
master, except when he masters his school by the ascendancy 
of his moral authority. External and in some sort mechan- 
ical means of discipline are worth nothing, unless they are 
seconded by the moral force which only good teachers 
possess, and in schools where this moral authority is well 
established they become almost useless. 

" To control the wills of children, to root in their minds 
the conviction that it is not possible not to follow the 
orders and suggestions of the teacher, to inspire them with 
an absolute confidence in his judgment, — these are the 
essential conditions for the good government of the school." ^ 

To begin with, the teacher ought to make himself loved. 
Affection is one of the mainsprings of human activity. 
What will not one do for those whom he loves ? How easily 
he obeys them ! And the ])est means to make himself loved 
is himself to love. But the teacher ought also to make him- 
self respected and feared. The true discipline is the 
mingling of mildness and severity. 

1 E. Rendu, Manuel, p. 91. 



474 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

524. Continuity in Discipline. — One of the reasons 
which the most often weaken the authority of the teacher is 
the disorder, the looseness, and the contradictions which he 
introduces into the discipline that he imposes. A govern- 
ment which passes from extreme rigor to extreme weakness, 
which at one time tolerates an excess of liberty and at 
another treats the lightest faults with severity, is the worst 
of governments in education as in politics. A rule once 
established sliould never be departed from. I well know 
that this unvarying tension, this uniformity which never 
wavers, is a difficult thing ; but it is a thing that is neces- 
sary. The actual education, said Richter wittily, resembles 
the harlequin of the Italian comedy, who comes on the stage 
with a bundle of papers under each arm. ' ' What do you 
carry under your right arm?" "Orders," he replies. "And 
under your left arm?" " Counter orders." Thus pulled in 
different directions, disconcerted by contradictory orders, 
always thinking to escape a rule which is not imperiously 
followed, the pupil loses all control of himself and goes 
adrift. 

525. Versatility in the Use of Means. — If it is true, 
on the one hand, that discipline ought to be inflexible in 
the rules which it imposes, it is none the less necessary, on 
the other, that it be supple and variable in the means which 
it employs. All pupils have not the same character, the 
same disposition. What is relative mildness with some 
would be extreme severit}' with others. Just as the pro- 
fessor studies the diversity of intelligences in order to find 
access to them, and adapts his instruction to the degree of 
aptness of each mind, so the educator ought to take account 
of differences of character, and estimate the degree of power 
and of weakness in each temperament, so as to adjust aid 
to need and to distribute equitably as the case requires 
reward or punishment. 



DISCIPLINE IN GENERAL. 475 

"His object," says M. Greard again, "is to follow the child 
across the different phases of his moral life, and in the 
common life whose rules he follows to assure to him the 
development of his individual life." 

With some the teacher must ever be affectionate and good ; 
with others he must use severity. At one time he must 
multiply excitations to arouse a sluggish nature ; at another 
he must use moderation and constraint. 

With one he must always talk reason ; with another he will 
make a constant appeal to feeling. 

526. The Higher Purpose of Discipline. — Discipline 
does not tend merely to establish silence and good order in 
classes, assiduous and exact labor ; but it thinks of the 
future and aims at training men. Its purpose in some 
sort is to make itself useless. School authority ought to be 
exercised only with the intention of making the child inde- 
pendent of the yoke of all external authority. Not that an 
absolute enfranchisement of the human person is to be 
dreamed of ; at every age and in all conditions man will 
alwa3's have to obey, — bis superiors under the flag and in 
the worksliop, the law and its re{)resentatives in society. 
But this necessary subjection does not prevent liberty, which 
is the discii)line that one imposes on himself ; and the object 
of education of all grades is to make men free. 

Hence the characteristics of the discipline truly liberal, 
which does not attempt to establish obedience by fear and 
passive habits, but which ever addresses itself to the personal 
activity and the will, which respects the dignity of the child, 
which exalts rather thnn humiliates, which does not stifle the 
natural powers, but which trains them to govern them- 
selves. • 

" This reflective enfranchisement, which is the purpose of 
education," says M. Greard, "requires in the child two iu- 



476 PRACTICAL PEDAGOGY. 

dispensable conditions of inward toil, — reflection and activ- 
ity ; — reflection, which renders account to one's self, and 
activity, which comes to a decision. No one attains to self- 
direction except at this price. 

" To put to use the moral aptitudes which lie concealed 
in the consciousness of the child and to make him know 
their tendencies, the evil as well as the good; to accustom 
him to look clearly into his mind and heart, to be sincere 
and true, to make him put in practice in his conduct, little 
by little, the resolutions he forms ; insensibly to substitute 
for the rules which have been given him those which he 
gives himself, and for the discipline from without that which 
is from within; to enfranchise him, not by beat of drum 
after the ancient manner, but day by day, by striking oif 
at each step of progress one link of the chain which at- 
taches his reason to the reason of another ; after having 
thus aided him in establishing himself as his own master, to 
teach him to come out of himself and to judge and govern 
himself as he would judge and govern others ; finally, to 
show him above himself the grand ideas of duty, public and 
private, which are imposed on him as a human and social 
being ; — - such are the principles of the education which can 
make the pupil pass from the discipline of the school under 
the discipline of his own reason, and which creates his moral 
personality by calling it into exercise." 



APPENDIX. 



A. Page 133. 
The Doctrine of Memory. 

In stating the doctrine that the memory should not anticipate 
the intelligence, M. Compayre is doubtless in accord with most 
modern writers on education ; yet it seems to me that this ground 
is taken rather as a recoil from an old error than from a due 
consideration of the relation which the memory bears to the other 
intellectual faculties. It must be plain that the exercise of the 
intelligence pi-esupposes the presence of some material on which 
the mind can react in the way of elaboration, and that this 
material must be held within the range of the mind's elaborative 
power. Retention and representation must therefore precede the 
process of thought. To say that we should memorize only what 
we understand is very much like saying that we should commit 
nothing to the stomach until it has been digested. We eat to 
the end that we may digest; and we must confide material 
to the retentive power of the mind in order that the intelli- 
gence may have something to work upon. The only question 
in the case seems to me to be this : Shall this material be held 
loosely, by what the author calls the " liberal memory of ideas," 
or exactly, by what he calls the " strict memory of words " ? 

This last is doubtless what is usually called " memorizing," or 
" learning by heart." In many cases informal, or loose, memoriz- 
ing will suffice ; but in other cases exact or verbal memorizing 
is best. But in either case the memory must anticipate the 
intelligence. 

477 



478 APPENDIX- 

Material that has been transformed by the elaborative power 
of the mind (the understanding) nmst then be held for the [)er- 
manent use or adornment of the spirit by a sort of organic regis- 
tration ; and it is doulitless this final and perfect form of the 
retentive process which writers have in view when they say that 
nothing must be memorized which is not understood. If it is 
recollected that there is also a form of retention which precedes 
the act of thaught proper, all the real difficulties of this subject 
will disappear, and there will be no antagonism between psycho- 
logical theory and the universal practice of mankind. (P.) 



B. Page 282. 
Analysis and Synthesis. 

That writers on education use the terms analysis and synthesis 
in directly contrary senses, and that great confusion has thereby 
been introduced into the discussion of method, is a fact which 
must be admitted and one which is greatly to be deplored ; but 
the important question still remains. Is there a real and an 
intelligible sense in which these terms are descriptive of mental 
phenomena ? Is there a mode of mental activity in which aggre- 
gates are resolved into constituent parts, and another mode in 
which parts are reconstructed into aggregates ? If there is, then 
the term analysis may be intelligently applied to the first and 
the term synthesis to the second. 

As to the psychological fact there can be no doubt. Perhaps 
the clearest statement of this law of mental activity has been 
made by Sir William Hamilton in these terms : 

" The first procedure of the mind in the elaboration of its 
knowledge is always analytical. It descends from the whole 
to the parts, from the vague to the definite." 

" This is the fundamental procedure of philosophy, and is called 
by a Greek term Annlysh.'" 

" But though analysis be the fundamental procedure, it is still 



APPENDIX. 479 

only a means towards an end. We analyze only that we may 
comprehend ; and we comprehend only uiasmuch as we are able 
to reconstruct in thought the complex effects which we have 
analyzed into their elements. This mental reconstruction is, 
therefore, the final, the consummative procedure of philosophy, 
and is familiarly known by the Greek term Synthesis." 

It thus appears that the terms analysis and synthesis, employed 
in the very same sense as in chemistry, are necessary in order 
to formulate a fundamental law of mental activity ; and this law 
is the safest clew we have in the discussion of method, as it evi- 
dently underlies the whole art of presentation. (P.) 



C. Page 298. 

The Problem of Primary Reading. 

This problem admits of what might be called a psychological 
solution, and furnishes a typical illustration of the deduction of 
a method from a general principle. This problem may be stated 
comprehensively as follows : 

To assist the child in making the most direct transition from spoken 
to written language. 

Or, the problem may be stated analytically in these terms : 

(1) To teach the child a small and select vocabulary of printed words; 
and (2) to give him power to name new words for himself. 

1. The principal methods that have been employed for intro- 
ducing the child to the art of reading are the following : (1.) 
The Alphabetic; (2.) The Phonic; (3.) The Phonetic ; (4.) The 
Word ; (5.) The Sentence. The first three methods proceed 
from elements (letters) to aggregates (words), and are therefore 
analytic ; while the last two proceed from aggregates (words or 
sentences) to elements (syllables and letters), and are therefore 
synthetic. The question now at issue is this : Which procedure 
conforms to the organic mode of mental activity, the analytic 
or the synthetic? From the psychological law stated under B, 



480 APPENDIX. 

the inference is irresistible that preference must be given to 
methods which are analytical ; so that our choice is now between 
the Word and the Sentence methods. Both are correct in 
principle ; but as the smaller aggregate seems to me the more 
convenient and manageable, I give my preferences to the Word 
Method. 

2. In order to name (pronounce) new words for himself, a child 
must know three things : (1.) The letters of the alphabet ; (2.) 
The elementary sounds of the language ; and (o.) The association 
of letter and sound. It must be plain that in order to pronounce 
a new word of his own accord, the pupil must be able to infer its 
name from its for7n, and reading aloud might be called translating 
form into sound; and this power of inference, though never 
infallible, can be gained from a ready knowledge of these three 
elements. 

The question now presented is this : How can these three 
things be taught the most expeditiously ? Without entering into 
any explanation or discussion the following summary answer may 
be given : (1.) The easiest way to teach the elements of words is 
by requiring the pupil to print or draw them on slate, board, 
or paper ; (2.) The best way to teach the elementary sounds of 
the language is by phonic analysis or slow pronunciation; (3.) 
The association of letter and sound is best taught by oral spelling. 

According to this analysis the successive steps in teaching a 
child to read are as follow : 

1. Teaching the names of familiar words (say two hundred), at 
sight upon the authority of the teacher; 

2. Teaching the names of the letters by printing words ; 

3. Teaching the elementary sounds by the analysis of spoken 
words ; 

4. Teaching the powers of the letters by oral spelling. (P.) 

D. Page 366. 
The Value op Subjects. 

Three ideas should be embodied in a course of study : (1.) The 
idea of training or discipline ; (2.) The idea of practical utility ; 



APPENDIX. 481 

(3.) The idea of culture, one chief mark of which is contem- 
plative delight. Under another form this thought may be 
expressed as follows : Education should form or train the mind, 
and furnish it with knowledge for two purposes, — practical use 
and enjoyment. The three values involved in studies may be 
called the disciplinary, the practical, and the culture values respect- 
ively. Every subject doubtless has these three values, though in 
different degrees, but each subject is characterized by what may 
be called its major value. In other terms, there are three lines 
of defence for the various studies included in a curriculum, and 
a subject which is known to have a high value of either sort is 
entitled to a place in a course of study. 

A disciplinary study communicates power; a practical study 
furnishes knowledge for use ; and a culture study conmiuuicates 
organic power and furnishes knowledge for enjoyment. With 
this distinction, and with major values in view, the studies of 
the common school course may be grouped as follow: 

1. Practical Studies : Reading, writing, spelling, the fundamental 
processes of arithmetic, language lessons, hygiene, civics. 

2. Disciplinary Studies : Arithmetic and grammar. 

3. Culture Studies : Geography, history, and literature. 

Geography has the same kind of value as travel, and it might 
be called traveling by proxy. The direct practical value of 
Geography, that is, its value as estimated by the actual use which 
each individual makes of it, is very small ; while its indirect 
value, that is, the value which comes to us through the knowledge 
which other persons have of it, is very large. One may be igno- 
rant of an art or science, and yet may enjoy all the practical 
benefits flowing from it. In all such cases its value is of the 
indirect order. In constructing a course of study for a common 
school, only direct practical values must be taken into account. 
In Chapter III. of my "Contributions to the Science of Educa- 
tion " I have discussed this subject at some length. (P.) 



INDEX. 



[the numbers refer to pages.] 



Abstraction, 169 ; child's repug- 
nance to, 173 ; difficulties of, 174. 

Action, relation of feeling to, 196. 

Adolphus, Gustavus, 149. 

Esthetic education, 245. 

Agriculture, teaching of, 438. 

Alexander the Great, 149. 

Amoras, 43, 234. 

Analysis, 280, 478 ; grammatical 
and logical, 336. 

Ancients, aesthetic education 
among, 249. 

Antoine, M., 146. 

Aptitudes, special, 71. 

Apollo, 146. 

Aristotle, 187. 

Arithmetic, 440, 445 ; importance 
of, 379 ; utility of, 381 ; child's 
taste for, 381 ; general method 
of, 382; material aids, 384; 
numeral frames, counting-ma- 
chines, 385 ; mental, 385 ; prob- 
lems, 386 ; metric system, 387 ; 
faults, 388. 

Arts, 249 ; and morals, 250 ; a 
source of pleasure, 251 ; in com- 
mon schools, 263 ; as moralizers, 
256. 



Association of ideas, 135. 
Attention, culture of, 94. 

Bachelier, 417. 

Bacon, Lord, 269, 287. 

Bain, Professor, 13n, 18, 74, 115, 
120, 125, 134, 141, 173, 175, 176, 
211, 225, 245, 251, 252, 256, 291n, 
295, 312, 315, 316, 318, 319, 321, 
330n,331n, 332,334, 351, 361, 365, 
366, 367, 369, 371, 375, 380, 382, 
383, 387, 455, 457, 458, 459, 460. 

Baldwin, James, 55, 72. 

Beautiful, love of the, 248 ; how 
cultivated, 253. 

Belgium, schools of, 443, methods 
in, 298, 341. 

Bentham, 92. * 

Berger, 306, 333. 

Bert, Paul, 393, 395, 435, 439. 

Bible, in moral education, 224. 

Bishop of Versailles, 50n. 

Blackie, J. S., 90, 133, 135, 149, 158, 
206, 222, 224, 244. 

Bossuet, 24, 169, 231, 450. 

Botany, 394. 

Bourdaloue, 243. 

Bracket, 334. 

483 



484 



INDEX. 



Braun, M. H., 270n, 360. 

Breal, 110, 325, 332, 334, 340. 

Bridguian, Laura, 77. 

Brooks, Edw., 69. 

Brouard, 298, 307. 

Buffon, 97. 

Buisson, 21, 176n, 280n, 284, 286, 
287, 295, 299, 301, 303, 323, 354, 
360, 367, 373, 374, 370, 385n, 388, 
398, 420. 

Byron, Lord, 206. 

Cadet, F., .341, 443. 

Campan, Muie., 116, 117, 451. 

Cartesians, the, 210, 247. 

Chalaniet, Mile., 42, m, 148, 195, 
254, 293, 311, 313, 381, 422, 428. 

Chanipfleury, 152, 198. 

Character, 244. 

Charbonneau, 282. 

Chateaubriand, 114. 

Chauvet, 27. 

Chemistry, 394. 

Child, physiology of, 33 ; intellect- 
ual state of, 59 ; respect for, 64 ; 
in the cradle, 73 ; memory in 
the, 115 ; has it creative imagin- 
ation ? 145 ; judgment in the, 
162 ; tendency to generalize, 171 ; 
repugnance to abstraction, 173 ; 
reasoning in the, 178 ; develop- 
ment of sympathy in the, 189; 
marks of sensibility, 190 ; neither 
good nor bad, 208 ; evil instincts 
of, 209 ; moral sense in the, 214 ; 
imitative instinct in the, 220 ; 
will in the, 228 ; taste for num- 
bers, 381. 

Cinderella, 151. 

Civic instruction, history and, 360, 



411 ; teaching, 397,408 ; necessity 

of, 409; methods in, 411; and 

politics, 412. 
Classification, of pupils, 466. 
Cleanliness, 38. 
Clothing, 29. 
Cocheris, .320. 
Color-blindness, 87. 
Comenius, 75, 144, 151, 241, 302. 
Composition, 153 ; exercises in, 

338 ; from pictures, 340. 
Condillac, 75, 96, 178, 227. 
Condorcet, 199. 
Conscience, 203, 212. 
Consciousness, 94 ; education of, 

95. 
Counting-machines, 385. 
Cuignet, 82. 
Culture, methods of, 56 ; of the 

senses, 76 ; of the attention, 94. 
Curiosity, 106. 

Daguet, 267, 275, 280, 282. 

Darwin, 214. 

Da Vinci, Leonardo, 253. 

Deduction, 180, 181, 276. 

De Guimps, Roger, 219n, 430. 

Delaunay, 299. 

Denzel, 11. 

De Maintenon, Mme., 132, 195, 460. 

De St. Pierre, Abbe, 165, 197. 

De Sales, 136. 

De Saussure, 10, 59, 60, 68, 79, 83, 

101, 107, 125, 139, 147, 152, 155, 

157, 160, 208, 211, 240, 254, 269, 

403. 
De Se'vigne, Mme., 37, 143. 
Desire, difference between will 

and, 228. 
De Stael, Mme., 67. 



INDEX. 



485 



Dictation exercises, 445. 

Didactics, 267. 

Diderot, 180, 449. 

Diesterweg, 6, 7, 17. 

Difficulties, in education of the 
feelings, 188; in moral educa- 
tion, 219. 

Discipline, music and, 430 ; school, 
447 ; means of, 447 ; of conse- 
quences, 460 ; in general, 463 ; 
moral conditions of, 470 ; impor- 
tance of physical qualifications, 
472; versatility in the use of 
means, 474 ; continuity in, 474 ; 
higher purpose of, 475. 

Dore, G., 121. 

Douliot, 1.34n. 

Drawing, in the common school, 
417 ; historical, 418 ; definitions, 
420 ; programme, 420 ; at what 
age should instruction in it 
begin f 421 ; children's taste 
for, 422 ; taste for coloring, 
422 ; two methods, 423 ; partic- 
ular advice, 426. 

Duclos, 295. 

Dupange, M., 429, 431. 

Dupanloup, 13n, 15, 54, 64, 106. 

Duruy, 343. 

Duties, the teacher's, out of school, 
467. 

Economy, domestic, 443. 

Edgeworth, Miss, 89, 105, 108, 109, 
110, 162, 193, 245. 

Education, origin of the word, 3 ; 
the prerogative of man, 3 ; is 
there a science of ? 4 ; pedagogy 
and, 4 ; definitions, 9 ; divisions, 
13, 14; liberal, 15; the work of 



liberty, 19 ; of authority, 20 ; 
power and limits of, 23 ; and the 
school, 24 ; in a republic, 25 ; 
character-building the supreme 
end, 26; physical, 28; intel- 
lectual, 52 ; progressive, 60 ; pain 
in, 68; practical, 71; of the 
senses, 73 ; of conciousness, 95 ; 
of the memory, 114 ; of the imag- 
ination, 138 ; of the judgment, 
159; of the reason, 179; of the 
feelings, 185 ; abuse of the feel- 
ings in, 191 ; moral, 203, 397 ; in 
liberty, 233 ; the will and, 240 ; 
religious, 245 ; aesthetic, 245 ; 
self, 241; of the heart, 402; 
through reflection, through prac- 
tice, 403. 

Effort, necessity of, 67. 

Egger, 74, 103, 147, 152, 166, 104, 
216. 

Elocution, 341. 

Emerson, 19n. 

Emotions, division of, 186 ; relation 
to ideas, 194 ; to action, 196. 

Emulation, in school discipline, 
448. 

English methods, 175, 258, 347, 350. 

Esquimaux, anecdote of, 109. 

Faculties, equilibrium and har- 
mony of, 61 ; mutual support 
of, 62 ; moral, 203. 

Family, moral influence of the, 
469. 

Feelings, culture of the, 485 ; rela- 
tion of the will to the, 230 ; tlie 
higher, 246. 

Fc'nelon, 24, 67, 106, 200, 286, 333, 
450, 473. 



486 



INDEX. 



Ferri, L., 217. 

Ferry, Jules, 412, 433, 434. 

Feudal system, lesson on the, 355. 

Feuerbach, 39. 

Feuillet, M., 450, 452. 

Fitch, 130, 347. 

France, public school system of, 

416 ; methods in, 258 ; University 

of, 416. 
Franklin, Dr., 234. 
Frich, 381. 
Froebel, 49, 70, 78, 79, 105, 151, 

275n, 300, 390, 419, 421. 
Foncin, 367, 
Fontenelle, 23, 126, 239. 
Food, 39. 

Foussagrives, 39, 87, 102. 
Forms, geometrical, 419. 

Gauthey, 143, 146, 153, 196, 201, 
221, 242. 

Generalization, 169, 174, 176, 481. 

Geography, 362, 445 ; progress in 
studies, 362 : new methods, 363 ; 
definitions, 364 ; utility of, 365 ; 
divisions, 360 ; begin early, 368 ; 
methods, 369 ; national, 370 ; 
correct methods in, 371 ; maps, 
373 ; globe, 376 ; text-books, 376 ; 
physical, in the education of the 
reason, 179. 

Geometry, 419, 440 ; in common 
schools, 389 ; purpose and meth- 
od of, 390 ; elementary course, 
391 ; intuitive, 392 ; tachymetry, 
392. 

George, Dr., 36. 

German schools, 165 ; methods in, 
294, 296, 350. 

Gill, 273n. 



Girard, Pere, 151, 187, 328, 365. 

Girardin, 31. 

Globe, in geography, 376. 

Goldsmith, 38. 

Good, love of the, 225. 

Grammar, 327-9, 445 ; necessity of, 
330 ; true method, 331 ; text^ 
books, 332 ; qualities of a good 
text-book, 333 ; historical, 333. 

Grant, Horace, 102. 

Gre'ard, Pcre, 46n, 64, 79, 90, 92, 291, 
331, 337, 339, 340, 342, 346, 350, 
359, 369, 410, 434, 442, 444, 462, 
468-70, 475. 

Greeks, the, 29, 249, 254 ; their lan- 
guage, 334 ; their education, 429, 
450. 

Guizot, M., 24, 61, 114, 186, 295, 
471. 

Guizot, Mme., 71, 192, 207, 209, 212. 

Guillaume, M. E., 294, 298n, 425. 

Gymnastics, 36, 40, 234n, 433 ; mili- 
tary, 43 ; for girls, 44 ; pro- 
grammes for, 46 ; play and, 47. 

Habit, 227 ; habits, 236. 

Hall, 294. 

Hardouin, Pcre, 126n. 

Hamilton, Sir Wm., 478. 

Hearing, education of the, 81. 

Hegel, 186. 

Helvetius, 23. 

Herder, 254, 328, 368. 

History, 445 ; education of the 
reason by, 179; exciting patriot- 
ism, 194, 343 ; in moral educa- 
tion, 221 ; in common schools, 
343; purpose of, 343; influence 
on the development of the mind, 
344 ; character and limits of in- 



INDEX. 



487 



struction, 345 ; fundamental no- 
tions, 846 ; two systems, o47 ; old 
system, school programme, 348 ; 
regressive method, 350 ; general 
method, ordinary faults, 351 ; 
suggestions, 352 ; intuition in, 
353 ; lesson on the feudal system, 
355; text-books, 357; summaries, 
and narratives, 358 ; incidental 
aids, 359 ; civic instruction, 3(50, 
411 ; and geography, 300. 

Horner, 282, 297-8, 338-9, 384. 

Humanities, the, 15. 

Hume, 154. 

Huxley, 15. 

Hygiene, school, 86 ; of the senses, 
76 ; myopia, 87. 

Ideas, general and abstract, 170, 
173 ; general before language, 
171 ; relation of emotions to, 
194 ; difference betv?een will 
and, 229. 

Imagination, education of the, 138. 

" Imitation of Jesus Christ," 220. 

Induction, 180, 276 ; essential 
points and examples, 183. 

Inequalities, intellectual, 70. 

Instruction, methods of, 56 ; pleas- 
ure in, 67. 

Intellectual education, 52. 

Intelligence, beginning of, 73. 

Intuition, 283 ; in history, 353 ; in- 
tuitions, 174-5. 

Jacotot, 70, 120, 124, 275n, 297, 299, 

361. 
Jacoulet, 81. 
Janet, Paul, 95, 139, 170, 259, 397, 

399, 401, 403, 40^. 



Jansenists, the, 208. 

Javal, Dr., 4.3n. 

Jesuits, the, 16, 68. 

Johnson, Dr., 132. 

Johonnot, James, 55, 129, 313-4, 

318. 
Joly, 11, 58. 
Jouftroy, 191. 
Jowett, 19n. 
Judgment, the, 126, 159 ; culture 

of the, 161 ; in the child, 162. ■ 

Kant, 10, 11, 18, 20, 62, 67, 111, 127, 
140, 147, 200, 208-9, 213-4, 232-3, 
236, 243, 260. 

Kindergarten, the, 300. 

Kingsley, Charles, 36. 

Knowledge, and will, 227. 

Kohn, M., 87. 

Laboulaye, 168. 
La Bruyere, 209, 452. 
Lacombe, 107. 
Laisne', 44, 46n, 48. 
La Fontaine, 122-3n, 146, 209, 257. 
Lakanal, 292. 

Language, the study of, 325; les- 
sons, 328. 
La Rochefoucauld, 242. 
Larominguiere, 98. 
Latin, the study of, 41, 334n. 
Laurie, S. S., 288, 386. 
Lavisse, 346, 355. 
Legouve, 83, 118, 136, 210. 
Leibnitz, 25, 95n, 117. 
Levasseur, 370, 372. 
Leyssenne, 390-1. 
Lhomond, 330, 351. 
Liberty, 231 ; education in, 233. 
Life, importance of the wiU in, 244. 



488 



INDEX. 



Lincoln, D. F., 36. 

Literature, teaching, 341. 

Littre', 281, 366. 

Locke, 9, 28, 31, 37, 39, 52, 70, 75, 

107, 112, 119-20, 178, 180, 224, 

293, 421, 434, 450, 459. 
Luther, 149. 
Luys, 120. 

Maclaren, A., 36. 

Malebranche, 139. 

Mann, Horace, 14, 25, 26. 

Manual labor, in common schools, 
433 ; importance of, 433 ; indus- 
tries in schools for boys, 435 ; 
who should give lessons, 436 ; 
order of lessons, 437 ; agricul- 
ture, 438; military drill, 489; 
industries in schools for girls, 
440 ; needle-work, 441 ; abuses 
of, 442 ; domestic economy, 443. 

Maps, in general, 373 ; in atlas, 
373 ; wall, 374 ; relief, 374. 

Marcel, 338. 

Marcellus, 353. 

Marche-Girard, Mile., 127. 

Marcus Aurelius, 223. 

Marion, 5, 11, 23, 31, 51, 122u, 191, 
199, 202, 237, 246, 250, 258, 269, 
402. 

Martha, M., 257. 

Mathematics, 180, 380. 

Military drill, 439. 

Mill, James, 12. 

Mill, John Stuart, 10, 234, 252. 

Mind, instruction and education 
of, 54 ; not a vase, but a fire, 63 ; 
inner development of, 68. 

Memory, the doctrine of, 133, 477 ; 
education of the, 114 ; function 



in geography, 372 ; in arithmetic, 

387. 

Mental arithmetic, 385. 

Methodology, 267. 

Methods, 56, 69, 265-6, 272. 

Metric system, 382, 388. 

Mineralogy, 394. 

Mnemonics, 134. 

Mobiles, 191. 

Moliere, 178. 

Montaigne, 3, 29, 72, 118, 120, 127, 
129, 133, 161, 186, 238, 299, 313. 

Morality, 216. 

Morals, consequence of defective 
attention in, 113 ; and educa- 
tion, 185, 203, 260 ; teaching, 397 
topics, 399 ; scope and limits 
399; courses, 400; methods, 401 
characteristics of instruction 
401 ; teaching through the heart 
402 ; through i-efiection, 403 
through practice, 403 ; exercises 
404 ; example of the teacher. 
405; incidental marks, 406 
reading, 407 ; poetry, 407 ; theo- 
retical, 408 ; lay rights, 413 ; in- 
fluence of music, 428 ; influence 
of family on, 469. 

Mother-tongue, study of the, 325. 

Motives, 191. 

Movement, need of, 104. 

Mozart, 121. 

Museums, school, 313. 

Music, moral influence of, 429 ; 
and discipline, 430 ; theory of, 
432. 

Myopia, in children, 87. 

Namur, 283. 

Napoleon I., 206, 429. 

Narratives, 149. 



INDEX. 



489 



Nature, principles of, 16 ; what are 
we to understand by 1 17 ; re- 
strictions, 18. 

Newton, 97, 178. 

Nicole, 62, 68, 71, 97, 178, 330, 368. 

Niemeyer, 11. 

Non multa, sed multum, 64. 

Novelty, effects upon attention, 
108. 

Numeral frames, 384. 

Observation, 89 ; in the child, 90. 

(_)bject-lessons, 175, 285, 310 ; rules 
for, 317; method of, 324; in 
arithmetic and geometry, 393; 
in science, 394. 

Oral exercises, 445. 

Orthography, 328, 335. See " Spell- 
ing." 

Page, David P., 304. 

Pain, 199 ; in education, 68. 

Pape-Carpantier, Mme., 38, 46, 05, 
87, 89, 93, 140, 196n, -302, 311, 
313, 319, 324, 338, 354, 442. 

Parents, co-operation with teach- 
ers, 468. 

Pascal, 30, 114, 123, 139, 253, 446, 
452. 

Passions, the, 201. 

Payne, W. H., notes by, 5, 8, 17-8, 
41, 52-3, 66, 191, 298, 326-7, 336, 
392; the doctrine of memory, 
477 ; analysis and synthesis, 
478; the problem of primary 
reading, 479; value of subjects, 
480. 

Pe'caut, Dr., 36, 46n, 151, 406. 

Pedagogics, 5. 

Pedagogy, its scientific principles. 



7 ; relation to psychology, 7 ; to 

other sciences, 9 ; practical, 265. 
Perception, 89. 

Perceptions, 14 ; acquired, 77. 
Perez, Bernard, 80,86, 99, 171, 189, 

214, 217, 248. 
Pestalozzi, 8, 20, 78, 141, 15.3, 218n, 

219, 268, 275n, 285, 306, 310, 321, 

363, 410, 419, 431, 459, 463. 
Peter the Great, 38. 
Phillip, Frere, 162. 
Physical education, 28; in Eng- 
land, 49. 
Physics, 394. 

Physiology, of the child, 33. 
Pictures, 144. 
Pillans, Professor, 67. 
Plato, 10, 19n, 23, 30, 45, 50, 249, 

429. 
Platrier, 312. 
Play, 152 ; and gymnastics, 47 ; 

necessity of, 48 ; imagination in, 

152. 
Pleasure, 199 ; in instruction, 67. 
Plutarch, 223, 225. 
Poetry, 150 ; in moral instruction, 

407. 
Politics, and civic instruction, 412. 
Pompce, 218n. 
Port Royal, 265, 295 ; logic, 124, 

161. 
Practical, aim of education the, 71. 
Practice, education through, 403. 
Precepts, in moral education, 244. 
Prizes, 455. 

Problems, in arithmetic, 386. 
Psychology, relation of pedagogy 

to, 7 ; is there an infant ? 8 ; 

methods based on, 57. 
Punishments, 456 ; reprimands. 



490 



INDEX. 



456 ; actual, 457 ; threats, 457 ; 
tasks or impositions, 458 ; cor- 
poral, 45U ; general rules, 459. 

Quintilian, 143n. 

Rabelais, 132, 450. 

Rambert, 384. 

Ravaisson, M., 253, 255, 424. 

Reading, 290, 446 ; teaching, 292 ; 
alphabetic method, 294 ; pho- 
netic, 296; analytic and syn- 
thetic, 297 ; taught with writing, 
298 ; accessory processes, 302 ; 
expressive, 304 ; in moral in- 
struction, 407 ; primary, 479 ; 
word method, 480. 

Reasoning, 159, 177 ; education in, 
179 ; exercises in, 181. 

Reclus, Elise'e, 371. 

Recitation, selections for, 131. 

Reflection, the faculties of, 59 ; ed- 
ucation through, 403. 

Religious education, 245 ; senti- 
ment, 258 ; in common schools, 
259 ; morals and, 260. 

Rendu, E., 123n, 131, 255, 303n, 
306-7, 386, 454, 4(i3-4, 473. 

Rewards, 447 ; kinds of, 454 ; praise 
and commendation, 454 ; other, 
455. 

Riant, 36. 

Ribot, 23, 120. 

Richter, 474. 

Rigault, 254n. 

Roll in, 121-3, 450, 468. 

Romans, the, 172. 

Romances, 151. 

Rousseau, 6, 12, 16, 18, 31, 36, 58, 
61, 65, 67, 74n, 75, 78, 79, 80, 116, 



139, 146, 150, 160, 164, 180, 186-7, 
192-3, 207-8, 210, 219, 233, 236, 
246, 260, 293, 310, 363, 418, 434, 
450. 

Rousselot, 154n, 242, 265n, 304. 

Rules, pedagogical, 175; for the 
education of the feelings, 193. 

Saffray, Dr., 82. 

St. Augustine, 208, 416. 

St. Paul, 208. 

Schrader, 367. 

Science, education of the reason 
by, 179; of education, is there 
a? 4. 

Sciences, in common schools, 379, 
393 ; programmes and methods, 
394 ; practical character, 395 ; 
scientific excursions, 395 ; text- 
books, 395. 

Sensations, 75. 

Sense-intuitions, 70. 

Sense-perception, abuse of, 322. 

Senses, education of the, 73 ; at^ 
tention through the, 103. 

Sewing, domestic, 441. 

Sight, education of the, 83. 

Simon, Jules, 11. 

Singing, in the common schools, 
427 ; in maternal schools ; moral 
influence of, 428 ; and discipline, 
430 ; choice of pieces, 430 ; meth- 
oc.sand processes, 431 ; intuition 
in, 431 ; theory of, 432. 

Sisyphus, 96. 

Smell, education of the, 79. 

Socrates, 19n, 53. 

Souvestre, 27. 

Spelling, the old and the new, 295. 
See " Orthography." 



INDEX. 



491 



Spencer, H., 10, 29, 34, 37-40, 44, 
47-8, 53, 58, 05-7, 91, 128, 312, 
316, 328, 340, 387, 391, 404, 422-3, 
4G0-2. 

Stein, 11. 

Studies, 66 ; value of subjects, 480. 

Stilly, 13n, 109, 148, 168, 191, 201, 
230. 

Supervision, necessity of vigorous, 
466. 

Swiss methods, 273, 281, 298, 338. 

Syllogism, the, 181. 

Synthesis, 280, 478. 

Tachymetry, 392. 

Taine, H., 49, 163, 172. 

Tales, 148. 

Talleyrand, 267. 

Taste, culture of the, 79, 255. 

Teacher, example of the, 405 ; co- 
operation with parents, 468 ; 
qualities of a good, 471; mora! 
authority of the, 473. 

Teaching, abi;se of abstraction in, 
173 ; morals, 204. 

Text-books, in grammar, 332 ; in 
science, 395. 

Tiedemann, 147. 

Time, distribution of, 463 ; general 
principles for, 464. 



Tissot, Dr., 46n. 
Truth, 245. 

Vaiet, 208. 

Variety, effects of, 108. 

Vauvenargues, 127. 

Vergnes, Capt., 40. 

Verne, Jules, 151. 

Vernet, H., 121. 

Vessiot, 206, 217, 219. 

Villemain, 120. 

Vincent, M., 442. 

Vinet, 237. 

Vitce, non schoUe, discitur, 71. 

Vitet, 410. 

Voice, the teacher's, 330. 

Volney, .38. 

Voltaire, 346. 

Von Sydow, 374. 

White, E. E., On. 

Wickersham, J. T., 69, 312, 315 

322, 364. 
Words, without things, 321. 
Writing, 290 ; taught with reading, 

298 ; teaching, 305 

Zoology, 394. 



Industrial Education : a Pedagogic and Sodal Necessity. 

Together with a Critique upon Objections Advanced. By Robert Seidel, 
Mollis, Switzerland. Translated by Margaret K. Smith, State Normal 
School, Oswego, New York. 

A good idea of the value of this book may be gained from the 
following 

TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. The Inner Relation between Industrial Instruction 
AND THE Social Question. 

CHAPTER II. Errors, Contradictions, and Inconsistencies of the 
Opponents of Industrial Instruction. 

CHAPTER HI. The Economic Objections to Industrial Instruction. 
— I. Competition. — II. Speculation. — in. Diminution of the Number of 
Purchasers. — iv. Misconception of the Utility of Division of Labor. 

CHAPTER IV. The Plai;sible and Legal Objections to Industrial 
Instruction. — I. The Child's Inchnation for Activity is sufficiently culti- 
vated in the Family. — ii. The Father should instruct the Son in his Handi- 
craft. — III. Compulsory Industrial Instruction would interfere with the 
Parents' Rights. — iv. The Rural Population require no Industrial Edu- 
cation. 

CHAPTER V. The Objections of Educators and Schoolmen to 
Industrial Instruction. — i. The Aim of the School and of Industrial 
Instruction. — 11. Can Gymnastics secure harmonious Development? — iii. 
The School already pursues Hand Labor. — iv. Disciplinary and Educa- 
tional Value of Drawing, Industrial, and Science Instruction. — v. Objec- 
tive Methods of Instruction in Forest and Field. — vi. Objective and 
Hand-Labor Instruction. — vii. Industrial Instruction can not remedy the 
Disadvantages of the Present School System. — viii. Increase of Hours for 
Instruction. — ix. Hand Labor should be Vacation Employment, and in 
Childhood merely Play. — X. School Hand Labor and Choice of a Pro- 
fession.— xi. The Decline of the Teacher's Position. — xii. The Union of 
Study and Labor in the School. — xiii. Method of Industrial Instruction. 

CHAPTER VI. What do the Classic Educators say of Industrial 
Instruction? 

CHAPTER VII. Educational and Social Necessity for Industrial 
Instruction. — Supplementary RisuM^. — Conclusion. 



D. C. HEATH & CO., Publishers, 
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